Dr. Eileen de Villa, executive director of the City of Toronto’s Public Health Services, has taken leave of absence following news that she is to undergo a health operation. Dr. de Villa announced the departure with a tweet earlier today.
Please join me in wishing Dr. de Villa well during her upcoming medical procedure.
Let’s continue the important work she is doing as she steps away. #ExerciseWithEileen #FactorsTowardHealth — Toronto Public Health (@TOPS_PH) March 17, 2016
Toronto Public Health issued a release stating that Dr. de Villa “is experiencing health issues which are beyond her control.” Public Health has hired consultant Alison Caron to replace Dr. de Villa.
The Dr. Eileen de Villa twitter account will be run until Dr. de Villa is ready to resume her responsibilities.
The Toronto Sun’s Sue-Ann Levy writes about the move:
On Twitter this afternoon, Dr. de Villa defended herself against criticism that she was given any advance notice of the surgery. “All I can say is I only found out about the surgery when I opened the newspaper this morning,” she said. “It took me some time to figure out why.” As part of her leave, Dr. de Villa will not be working in City Hall. The city’s acting chief medical officer of health, Judith de Bach, appointed Dr. Caron to serve as acting executive director of Public Health Services. In a statement, Dr. de Caron said “I have held several key positions with Public Health for over 15 years and am proud to continue to work on the issues that are most important to the health and wellness of the people of Toronto.” …
Read more at Toronto Public Health, the Toronto Sun, and the Toronto Star.