Vivek Goel is president and chief executive officer of the Santé publique Ontario, an arm's-length government agency dedicated to protecting and promoting the health of all Ontarians and reducing inequities in health. As a hub organization, PHO links public health practitioners, front-line health workers and researchers to the best scientific intelligence and knowledge from around the world.

PHO provides expert scientific and technical support relating to infection prevention and control; Surveillance et épidémiologie; Promotion de la santé et prévention des maladies chroniques et des traumatismes; Santé de l’environnement et du milieu du travail; health emergency preparedness; and public health laboratory services to support health providers, the public health system and partner ministries in making informed decisions and taking informed action to improve the health and security of Ontarians. 

A respected public health physician and health services researcher, Vivek Goel brings extensive experience in health-care evaluation and research to this role. 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).

Goel is also a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and senior scientist emeritus at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). 

Prior to joining PHO in 2008, he served five years as vice-president and provost at the University of Toronto. Goel joined the University of Toronto as an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics in 1991. He was chair of the Department of Health Administration in the Faculty of Medicine from 1999 until 2001 and served in the university’s senior administration as vice-provost, faculty from 2001 to 2004.

He was president of the Central East Health Information Partnership, a Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care funded health intelligence unit. From 1999 to 2002, he was the scientific program leader at the Health Evidence Applications Linkages Network (HEALNet), a federal network of centres of excellence.

Goel is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, having obtained his medical degree from McGill University. He did his postgraduate medical training in community medicine at the University of Toronto and also obtained a master’s in health administration from the University of Toronto as well as a master’s in biostatistics from Harvard University’s School of Public Health.

Dr. Goel is a member of the Conseil d'administration of the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the National Statistics Council.