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We continue to build our capacity to support improvements to Ontario’s public health system, as well as a solid governance and accountability framework to ensure we are accountable to our stakeholders and the people of Ontario. View our organizational chart and learn more about our leadership team:
Executive Team
Public health leadership team
- Dr. Ray Copes, Director, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Dr. Natasha Crowcroft, Director, Surveillance and Epidemiology
- Dr. Donald Low, Medical Director of the PHO Laboratories
- Dr. Heather Manson, Director, Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention
- Dr. Brian Schwartz, Director, Emergency Management Support
- Dr. Doug Sider, Acting Director, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control
Corporate leadership team
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Executive team
| Dr. Vivek Goel, President and Chief Executive Officer |
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A respected public health physician and health services researcher, Vivek Goel brings extensive experience in health-care evaluation and research to PHO.
He has been engaged in a broad range of research activities related to public health, particularly focusing on chronic disease prevention and control. These research activities include the economic evaluation of health-care interventions, optimization of the use of laboratory tests in the periodic health examination and the development of measures for health status assessment. In addition, Goel has served on numerous local, provincial and federal committees related to public health as well as being involved in international activities through the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).
Prior to joining PHO, Goel was vice-president and provost at the University of Toronto, and he is a professor in the Paul Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. He is also adjunct senior scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Program in eHealth Innovation at the University Health Network, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institutes for Health Information.
He holds a medical degree from McGill University, with specialty training in community medicine, a master's in Health Administration from the University of Toronto and a master's in Biostatistics from the Harvard School of Public Health. Read his full bio. |
| Dr. George Pasut, Vice-President, Science and Public Health |
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As a member of the Executive Committee, George Pasut provides senior leadership to PHO in the further development and implementation of the strategic plan. Pasut oversees the operational portfolios involved with the delivery of scientific and public health programs within Surveillance and Epidemiology, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, and Environmental and Occupational Health.
Pasut has extensive public health leadership experience, having served as associate chief medical officer of health, Public Health System Policy and Planning, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care; medical officer of health and chief executive officer of the Simcoe County Health Unit; and as a senior medical consultant and physician manager in the Public Health Branch and as acting director of the Health Promotion branch of the Ministry Of Health and Long-Term Care. Most recently, Pasut was at Cancer Care Ontario where he was vice-president of Prevention and Screening. |
Public health leadership team
| Dr. Ray Copes, Director, Environmental and Occupational Health |
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Supporting and collaborating with a broad group of government and non-government stakeholders, Ray Copes leads the development and implementation of PHO’s strategies, policies, services and other initiatives in environmental and occupational health. He also works with the Knowledge Exchange team to ensure that the results of PHO’s research and other knowledge products are based on best evidence, and are presented in a manner that makes them timely, relevant and accessible to practitioners throughout the province.
Prior to joining PHO, Copes was director of Environmental Health Services at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and a clinical professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Copes completed his medical training at McGill University in Quebec, has specialty training in occupational medicine and conducts research in the areas of exposure and risk assessment methods. |
| Dr. Natasha Crowcroft, Director, Surveillance and Epidemiology |
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Natasha Crowcroft is responsible for developing the epidemiology service and research capacity of PHO, including related areas of expertise such as biostatistics and geospatial analysis. In addition, she leads the development and implementation of an organization-wide surveillance strategy.
A public health physician, Crowcroft has a broad background in clinical medicine, microbiology and field epidemiology, and an extensive portfolio of research, training, policy and public health service. She has worked internationally in several European programs and as an advisor to the World Health Organization. During her decade with the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency, Crowcroft was a national expert in immunization for the U.K., ran several national surveillance systems, and conducted research studies in a number of areas, including pertussis and encephalitis. She is a member of the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) and Ontario’s Provincial Infectious Disease Advisory Committee Subgroup on Immunization. |
| Dr. Donald Low, Medical Director, PHO Laboratories |
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Don Low is the Medical Director of the PHO public health laboratories. His primary research interests are in the study of the epidemiology and the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in community and their clinical relevance. A recognized authority in microbiology and infectious diseases, Low has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Low also heads up the Department of Microbiology at the University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital; is a professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Department of Medicine; and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and a member of the Association of American Physicians. |
| Heather Manson, Director, Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention |
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Heather Manson directs PHO’s planning, policy development, evaluation and research activities relating to health promotion, chronic disease prevention and injury prevention. In addition to leading PHO’s healthy communities initiatives, comprehensive tobacco use prevention, and commitment to reducing health inequities, Manson promotes provincewide system-level changes, particularly by helping public health units meet their obligations under the Ontario Public Health Standards.
Manson joined PHO from her previous role as vice-president, Vancouver Coastal Health, where she led the improvement of health outcomes by enabling a continuum of care focused around the needs of the patient, client, resident and population. She brings clinical, administrative and population health experience to PHO, having also worked as an internist, hematologist, senior medical director and medical health officer in Richmond, British Columbia.
Heather obtained her MD from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of British Columbia (UBC). She completed post-graduate training in internal medicine and clinical hematology at the University of Toronto and McMaster University respectively, and is certified in these specialities by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She also has a Master of Health Sciences from UBC.
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| Dr. Brian Schwartz, Director, Emergency Management Support |
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As Director of Emergency Management Support at PHO, Brian Schwartz leads the development of PHO’s strategy, design, policies, procedures and response to health emergencies and exigent circumstances, including hazardous materials, catastrophic events and outbreaks. PHO supplements and supports the province in its emergency planning and response by providing improved access to a broader range of scientific and technical specialization.
Schwartz practiced emergency medicine for over 30 years in both community and academic settings and served as Director of the Sunnybrook Osler Centre for Prehospital Care from 1996 to 2009. During SARS, Schwartz was vice-chair of the Ontario SARS Scientific Advisory Committee. He serves as scientific advisor to the Emergency Management branch of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, chaired the Ministry’s Scientific Response Team on behalf of PHO during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, and contributes to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive planning and response.
Schwartz has received numerous awards for clinical and academic excellence in emergency and family medicine, and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. |
| Dr. Doug Sider, Acting Director, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control |
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Doug Sider leads PHO’s team of infectious disease control specialists to develop and enhance provincial capacity in infection and communicable disease prevention and control.
Sider joined PHO as a public health physician for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in September, 2009. As the lead for public health measures on our pandemic H1N1 Scientific Response Team, Sider was instrumental in developing public health guidelines to support pandemic management. He has since led PHO’s Scientific Response Team for the G8-G20 Summit. Currently, he is co-principal investigator for a research study into the challenges of implementing guidelines in school-based settings during the second wave of pandemic H1N1. He also continues to work as our liaison to the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee.
As a former medical officer of health and associate medical officer of health in Ontario and an assistant professor at McMaster University, Sider has a wealth of experience in public health practice in Ontario and abroad, extensive content knowledge, and a genuine desire to enhance the skills of infectious disease prevention and control specialists across the province. |
Corporate leadership team
| Colleen Geiger, Director, Planning and Implementation |
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Colleen joined the PHO in July 2009, as Director of Planning and Implementation. She brings over 20 years of progressive leadership experience in the project management, strategic planning, operations management, capital planning and construction management and performance management. Colleen has held senior management positions in both the public and private sector in academic health science settings, community hospitals, international healthcare consulting and Local Health Integration Networks. Immediately prior to joining the PHO, Colleen served as the Senior Project Director - Health System Improvement and Performance Lead for the North Simcoe Muskoka LHIN. |
| Clive Kessel, Executive Director, Facilities |
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Clive Kessel joined PHO in April 2008 as part of the agency’s Transition Team, responsible for overseeing the transfer of the public health laboratories from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to PHO. In his role as executive director, Facilities, Kessel is responsible for facility planning, redevelopment and management, and the modernization of our public health laboratory facilities.
Kessel has held senior management positions with the Ontario Public Service in policy development, business planning, facility planning and project management. At ServiceOntario, Kessel was director of the Project Management Office and director of the ServiceOntario Counter’s Initiative, leading a multi-year project to modernize customer-facing facilities. At the Ontario Realty Corporation, he led a number of priority initiatives related to performance management, customer satisfaction and contract management.
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| Samir Khalil, General Counsel |
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As General Counsel of PHO, Samir provides direction and support on a wide range of legal affairs, including negotiations and agreements for program transfers from the Government; governance structure and implementation; research and partnership affiliations and agreements; and ongoing strategic advice.
Samir joined PHO in April 2008 from the legal branch of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
He acted as the Ministry's lead counsel on alternative financing and procurement (AFP) hospital projects, including Ontario’s first pilot AFP hospital projects, the William Osler Health Centre and the Royal Ottawa Healthcare Group projects. Samir also successfully negotiated the transfer of three provincial psychiatric hospitals to public hospitals. His previous experience includes working with the Ministry of Correctional Services where, in addition to his role as counsel, he assumed other senior management positions, including an acting director for the Infrastructure Renewal Project aimed at renewing the province’s ageing correctional facilities.
Samir has an LL.B and an LL.M (Business Law) from Osgoode Hall Law School as well as an MA in Criminology from the University of Toronto. |
| Mike Mendaglio, Chief Laboratory Operations Officer |
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Mike Mendaglio has extensive experience in the health-care and laboratory services. He comes to PHO from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where he served as the operations director of Laboratory services, of Biomedical Engineering, and of Phlebotomy Services. Prior to that, he served in various roles at the Scarborough General and Grace sites, including director of the Quality and Performance Improvement Division. Mendaglio has an honours Bachelor of Science degree, a post-graduate registration as an Advanced Registered Technologist, and an MBA from Wilfred Laurier University, School of Business and Economics. |
| Norm Rees, Chief Financial Officer |
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Norm Rees’ team is responsible for financial management policies, systems, processes and practices to help PHO meet its strategic objectives. Rees manages PHO’s strategic financial plan, procurement, internal governance and financial controllership, and capital asset planning.
Rees is a chartered accountant who brings three decades of health-care experience in both the private and public sectors. He has a particular interest in creating and implementing systems and business processes and coaching and mentoring teams.
Most recently, he was the chief financial officer and chief information officer at Lakeridge Health Corporation and prior to that, he was the vice-president of Corporate Services at the Rouge Valley Health System. Rees has also held senior finance positions with Baxter Corporation-Canada. |
| Anne Simard, Chief Public Affairs Officer |
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Anne Simard brings public health and not-for-profit sector expertise in strategic and operational planning, accreditation and performance management, policy analysis and development, and partnership and network development to her work at PHO. She previously worked with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as well as several not-for-profit health organizations. Anne is responsible for building effective working relationships at senior levels across a wide range of stakeholders and partner ministries to ensure the success of key projects critical to fulfillment of PHO’s strategic objectives. She also acts as a strategic support to a number of cross-cutting initiatives and public health program areas. |
| Jim Tom, Chief Information Officer |
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Jim Tom is responsible for providing strategic advice on translating the business direction of PHO into an information technology/information management strategy and plan. Specifically, he leads the definition and acquisition of the information technology infrastructure that PHO requires. He works with scientific and medical leads to help them define requirements for their functional applications.
Tom comes to PHO from the University of Missouri, St. Louis, where he was chief information officer and associate vice-chancellor of Information Technology. As a consultant in strategic technology planning, he helped enterprises to understand and utilize the strategic value that technology can bring to business. Tom has held executive positions in the public and private sectors in Canada, including chief technology officer of the University of British Columbia Medical School expansion, director of Networks at UBC and vice-president of Research and Engineering for a digital imaging firm. |
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