PPF Fall Lecture: Policy Making in a Time of Pandemic

Dr. Bonnie Henry was appointed as provincial health officer for the Province of BC effective February 1, 2018.

Dr. Bonnie Henry was the deputy provincial health officer for three years starting in August of 2014 and prior to that served as the interim provincial executive medical director of the BC Centre for Disease Control from December 2013 until August 2014.
She was also the medical director of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control and Public Health Emergency Management with the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and medical director for the provincial emerging and vector-borne diseases program as well as a provincial program for surveillance and control of healthcare associated infections; a position she started in February of 2005.
She joined Toronto Public Health in September 2001 as associate medical officer of health where she was responsible for the Emergency Services Unit and the Communicable Disease Liaison Unit. In 2003, she was the operational lead in the response to the SARS outbreak in Toronto. She was a member of the executive team of the Ontario SARS Scientific Advisory Committee.

Read more here.

Helen Branswell is STAT’s infectious diseases and global health reporter. She came to STAT in 2015 with 15 years of experience covering health, with a focus on infectious diseases. Helen was introduced to epidemic reporting during Toronto’s SARS outbreak in 2003; in the years since she has written about bird flu, the H1N1 flu pandemic, Ebola, Zika and now leads STAT’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. She spent the summer of 2004 embedded at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a CDC Knight Fellow. In 2010-11 she was a Nieman Global Health Fellow at Harvard, where she focused on polio eradication.

Dr. Bonnie Henry was appointed as provincial health officer for the Province of BC effective February 1, 2018.

Dr. Bonnie Henry was the deputy provincial health officer for three years starting in August of 2014 and prior to that served as the interim provincial executive medical director of the BC Centre for Disease Control from December 2013 until August 2014.
She was also the medical director of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control and Public Health Emergency Management with the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and medical director for the provincial emerging and vector-borne diseases program as well as a provincial program for surveillance and control of healthcare associated infections; a position she started in February of 2005.
She joined Toronto Public Health in September 2001 as associate medical officer of health where she was responsible for the Emergency Services Unit and the Communicable Disease Liaison Unit. In 2003, she was the operational lead in the response to the SARS outbreak in Toronto. She was a member of the executive team of the Ontario SARS Scientific Advisory Committee.

Read more here.

Laura Lee Langley is the Deputy Minister of the Office of the Premier, Deputy Minister of Treasury and Policy Board, Clerk of the Executive Council, Head of the Public Service, Chief Executive Officer of Communications Nova Scotia, and the Public Service Commissioner.

She began her career as a journalist in the early 1980’s and worked in both radio and television as a reporter, anchor and producer. In the late 1990’s she made a career transition to public relations and communications, developing expertise in communication for leaders, employee engagement, and strategic management–interests she discovered while completing a Master of Public Administration Degree at Dalhousie University in 2002.

In 2004, Laura Lee was appointed the first Assistant Deputy Minister of Communications Nova Scotia. In January 2010, she was appointed Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage–later Communities, Culture and Heritage. She was appointed Public Service Commissioner in October of 2013, and added Deputy Minister of the Office of the Premier and accompanying responsibilities in June of 2016.

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Over the last 30 years, Saäd Rafi has worked in both the public and private sectors, including several leadership roles in the Ontario government.

He was the CEO of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, where he worked extensively with municipalities in and around the GTHA to deliver the largest multi-sport event in Canadian history. Mr. Rafi has been a Deputy Minister in the Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care, Energy and Infrastructure, Transportation, and Public Safety. Mr. Rafi has also been a Partner at Deloitte LLP where he started an Infrastructure and Project Finance practice, and subsequently led their Government and Public Services practice for Canada.

Peter was appointed secretary of the Treasury Board effective April 4, 2018.

From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Wallace served as city manager for the City of Toronto, Canada’s largest city.

Prior to working for the City of Toronto, Mr. Wallace held a number of positions in the Ontario public service, including serving as secretary of the Cabinet, head of the Ontario Public Service and clerk of the Executive Council from 2011 to 2014.

Before his appointment as secretary of the Cabinet, he was deputy minister of Finance and secretary to the Treasury Board for 3 years, and also served as deputy minister of Energy. Previously, he was deputy minister and associate secretary of the Cabinet with responsibility for Policy in Cabinet Office.

Peter began his public service career in 1981 after completing a B.A. (Honours) in Political Economy and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Toronto.

Currently serving as Senior Director, Email Notification Service, Canada COVID Taskforce (on loan from the Treasury Board Secretariat). Public Digital global affiliate. Founder and Senior Director at the Canadian Digital Service. Former Director of the Blueprint 2020 National Secretariat. Co-founder of Project Be, a fundraising initiative which has raised over $650k to date for youth causes. Board member for the Institute on Governance’s Digital Executive Leadership Program and GovConnect. Recipient of a Public Service Award of Excellence in 2014 and a leadership award from the Secretary of the Treasury Board of Canada in 2018.

Driven by a life-long commitment to improving Canadians’ health and well-being, Pamela Fralick has applied her skills as a strategist, communicator and consensus-builder to senior leadership roles in the country’s leading health and advocacy organizations.

Today Pamela is President of Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC), where she works with the country’s research-based pharmaceutical companies to ensure that Canadians continue to have access to the medicines they need, when they need them, and that Canada remains an attractive place to invest in the life sciences. Her unique perspective on the policy issues of the day is informed by her decades of working closely with patients and researchers to find solutions to some of our most pressing healthcare challenges.

Prior to IMC, Pamela was President and CEO of the Canadian Cancer Society, where she led the transformation of the organization’s operational and governance structures, helping to strengthen its position as the country’s leading cancer- fighting charity.

Her patient-centric perspective is shaped by senior roles at not-for-profits like the Canadian Healthcare Association (CHA) (now HealthCareCAN), the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, the Collegium of Work and Learning and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. In each of these positions she brought a focus on organizational sustainability and a commitment to improving outcomes for members and stakeholders.

Pamela has also held senior roles in Canada’s public service, including with Health Canada and the Department of National Defence. She has also served on a number of boards, and contributed her time to a range of health-related initiatives.

Pamela’s commitment to improving the lives of Canadians also keeps her involved in a range of boards, health- and policy-related organizations. She has served as Chair of the Health Charities Coalition of Canada (HCCC), the Health Action Lobby (HEAL), an organization dedicated to the health of Canadians and the quality of care they receive, as well as Co-Chair the Canadian Coalition for Public Health in the 21st Century (CCPH21), a national network of 21 non-profits, professional associations, health charities and research organizations that share a commitment to improving and sustaining the health of all Canadians. She has also been active with organizations like CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), where she served as Chair of the Board, the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Triathlon Canada and the International Triathlon Union.

She is currently a member of the Global Advisory Council of the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education, which is devoted to quality improvement of education for healthcare management and administration professionals. Pamela is also on the boards of Outward Bound International, and an innovative Canadian start-up in the field of health screening and diagnostics.

Pamela has a BA in French and psychology and an MA in developmental psychology from Carleton University, as well as a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Queen’s University. She also holds an ICD.D designation. She is trilingual – in English, French and German – and is an accomplished artist and athlete.

Dr. Heather E. Keizer graduated from Dalhousie University Medical School and completed her residency in Psychiatry at Dalhousie University where she subsequently worked in a teaching position and as the Coordinator of the Telepsychiatry program for Dalhousie prior to accepting a position with the University of Western Ontario. While the Director of Psychiatry for Huron Perth County, Ontario, Dr. Keizer established the first Core Residency Training program for Psychiatry at the Stratford, Ontario site which was accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Since 2016, Dr. Keizer has been the Chief of Mental Health and Addictions for Health PEI, The Director of the Department of Psychiatry, and the Medical Director of Hillsborough Hospital. She is currently an Associate Professor with Dalhousie Medical School and is cross appointed in the Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine. She has actively served in the Cabinet for the Family Medicine Residency Program on PEI since its inception. She has served on the Canadian Psychiatric Association Board of Directors, the Membership Affair Committee of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Education Committee of the CPA, the Economics Committee of the CPA, and with the Global Mental Health Network. Locally, she has served as the President of the Learning Disabilities Association of PEI and sits on the various community steering committees. The PEI Medical Society has both honored her with several nominations for the P1 Leadership Award and awarded her with the P1 Community Service Award in 2015.