‘Leadership Without Fanfare’ Earns Langley Doctor BC’s Physician of the Year Award
Dr. Anita Wong was a dance mom to her daughters for about 15 years.
In many ways, not much has changed for BC’s newly crowned Family Physician of the Year.
“I’ve always been sort of a backstage mom,” says Wong, medical director of Foundry Langley and a 30-year Langley resident. “I’m not a natural leader. I don’t stand up and do speeches or anything like that. I’d rather do the background work.”
That humility is one characteristic of her approach to care that may have appealed to the College of Family Physicians of Canada, BC Chapter, which hailed her as a doctor who has “quietly nurtured, taught, influenced and led physicians and care in her community without fanfare.”
Wong’s path to medicine began at the University of Manitoba, where she earned her medical degree. She completed her family medicine residency at McMaster University in Ontario. Over the next 32 years, including 30 in Langley, she built a career that led to a successful clinical practice and her current role as medical director of Foundry Langley, where she focuses on child and youth health.
At Foundry Langley, she coordinates and mentors medical residents who care for youth, while also helping train nurses and other health care professionals. Through that work, she hopes to encourage more young physicians to build their careers in Langley.
“I always tell the doctors coming through, ‘You pick the community because you can work anywhere.’ I always try to sell Langley.”
Long known as a community builder, Wong hosted home concerts before the pandemic. Today, she opens her home for physician recruitment gatherings and is helping organize her 35th medical school reunion at the University of Manitoba.
“Dr. Wong was there from the beginning,” says Jesslyn Linden, clinical manager at Foundry Langley.
“She has supported us in creating pathways to improve access to care for youth. She’s been a strong advocate for the needs of young people within the community and beyond, and it’s such a privilege to work alongside her.”