Olwen Williams elected RCP vice president

DR OLWEN WILLIAMS has been elected Royal College of Physicians vice president for Wales from January 2020.

Dr Williams will work with colleagues across the country and the UK to speak out on behalf of 1,300 physicians in Wales on a range of campaign priorities including the medical workforce, highquality patient care, and health inequalities.

Over the next three years, her priorities will be ensuring doctors feel supported and valued by NHS Wales; challenging health inequalities and ensuring high-quality healthcare for vulnerable people; and ensuring that NHS change is patient-centred and accessible.

Educated at Liverpool University, Dr Williams has previously worked as chief of medicine for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in north Wales, where she was responsible for primary, community and specialist medicine between 2009-15.

She is currently clinical director at the Amethyst Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) where she will continue her clinical duties as a consultant physician in genitourinary medicine and HIV medicine.

She is president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, an elected member of the RCP Council, and an elected fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. Previously she was vice president of the Medical Women’s Federation between 2016-19. In 2000, she was voted Welsh Woman of the Year, and in 2005, she received an OBE for services to medicine in Wales.

Dr Williams will take up post on January 1 when Dr Gareth Llewelyn steps down.

She said: “The challenge is immense in this time of political uncertainties, workforce issues, and increasing divisions across the devolved nations. Physicians are facing huge challenges secondary to increased demand for healthcare, raised patient expectations, and changing demography, and we need a proactive, responsive and respected organisation which supports its members in these uncertain times.”