Norfolk veterinarian heads provincial organization
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A Norfolk County woman is the new president of the College of Veterinarians of Ontario.
Dr. Susan Warren of Long Point heads the province’s regulatory and licencing body of 5,000 veterinarians.
Warren graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1985. She currently works occasionally at the combined Port Dover and Port Rowan Veterinary Services clinics.
She was first elected to the College of Veterinarians council in 2015.
Warren has been a cottager in Norfolk since 1983, and made it her primary residence in 2016. She’s been working at the combined clinics since 2012.
“It’s been a learning process, but it is important to give back to the profession because I’m now coming up to 35 years since my graduation,” said Warren. “Being part of the regulatory aspect, which is to protect the public interest and the safety of the animals, is why I went into it in the first place 35 years ago.”
One of the things Warren and her council will be working on in 2020 is updating the rules for accreditation.
“The standards are currently a little outdated, because the Veterinary Act is outdated,” she said. “We want to make it more modern. The act was proclaimed in 1989 we didn’t have computers or cellphones, people were still carrying pagers and running to payphones. It’s not agile, modern, or friendly for the public.”
The new council is looking at introducing a new voluntary peer advisory conversation for use by veterinarians across the province.
“It’s the finishing touches to the end of a great career,” said Warren of her presidency.
As a regulated profession, the college’s governing council is comprised of 13 elected veterinarians and five public members, appointed by the provincial government. Supporting the work of council are six statutory committees, with membership composed of veterinarians and public members.
In addition to licensing veterinarians and the college also accredits more than 2,300 facilities in Ontario.
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