Filipina leads public health office in Toronto, Canada

A Filipina is leading Canada’s largest local public health agency.

Eileen De Villa, medical officer of health for Toronto since 2017, first secured an internship with the United Nations system in Vienna, which gave her a chance to learn the practice of international health.

She also briefly practiced family medicine while training to become a specialist.

“To be able to serve as the medical officer of health for the city that I live in and where I’ve chosen to raise my family was, you know, to me, the ultimate privilege,” De Villa said in an interview with GMA Pinoy TV.

It was not an easy task, she admitted, to lead Toronto’s public health system, particularly during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, when there were no vaccines or treatments available.

“We were still learning about this virus. We had no vaccines at the time. It was so very challenging, and we’re going through, you know, the first kind of closures and restrictions and asking people to stay home,” she said.

Disinformation regarding COVID-19 was also being disseminated, which presented challenges for medical professionals like her, she said.

”Disinformation can be shared so quickly. Not just from person to person, but from person to entire population in a matter of seconds,” De Villa said. ”That was a significant challenge for sure from a public health perspective as part of the COVID-19 response.”

For her, building trust helps combat disinformation.

“Let’s start in a non-emergency time to actually have relationships so that when the next emergency comes, the easier it is to combat misinformation and disinformation,” she said.

De Villa also shared her mental health advocacy.

“What we’re seeing now is, you know, significant mental health challenges. They were there before the pandemic, but I think throughout the world we’re seeing an increase in mental health challenges. From a public health perspective, addressing those mental health challenges, particularly those we’re seeing in our children and youth, has got to be near the top of the agenda,” she said.

Meanwhile, De Villa expressed her desire to see more Filipinos in Canada succeed in their chosen careers.

”I see that I have a responsibility… How do I help young people be successful?” she said.

“If that’s what you want to do, there are ways and paths to get there, and I think people just need to know that it exists as a possibility,” she added. — Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News