ABOUT THE MINISTRY: Chief Medical Officer of Health: Dr. Arlene King

Chief Medical Officer of Health

Dr. King was appointed Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario, effective June 15, 2009.

She is an internationally recognized expert in immunization, infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness. Prior to joining the ministry, Dr. King was the Director General of the Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), a position that she held since 2007. This was her latest role at Health Canada/PHAC where she held several positions between 1999 and 2007, including Director General of Pandemic Preparedness.

Dr. King received her medical degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, certification in Family Medicine from the University of Calgary, and served as a family physician in northern Alberta from 1985 to 1989. In 1990, she received a Master’s Degree in Health Sciences from the University of British Columbia, and in 1992, became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Community Medicine.

Dr. King has been in the public health field since 1992, having undertaken various roles in communicable disease control at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Society, and served as a Unit Medical Officer of Health in Vancouver and a Medical Officer of Health in Burnaby, B.C. She is also an adjunct professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. King is on two World Health Organization (WHO) advisory committees on pandemic preparedness and has been a consultant to the WHO on polio, SARS and influenza, and to the World Bank and to the Canadian International Development Agency on emerging infectious diseases. She is a member of the Pan American Health Organization technical advisory group on immunization and belongs to the WHO Africa Region Polio Eradication Certification Commission. From 2004 to 2006, she served on the Board of the Global Alliance on Immunization.