Leading in a Time of Uncertainty: My Road to Kindness

Please note the off-site location of this lecture.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, the Provincial Health Officer of British Columbia, will provide a moving and timely reflection on her experiences leading the province’s response to recent public health crises including, most notably, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Join BC’s most senior public health official for this very special evening of self-reflection on lessons learned, and on the importance and power of human kindness.

This event requires registration and attendance is limited to the UBC community.

Dr. Bonnie Henry was appointed as Provincial Health Officer for the Province of BC in 2018. As B.C.’s most senior public health official, Dr. Henry is responsible for monitoring the health of all British Columbians and undertaking measures for disease prevention and control and health protection. Most recently, Dr. Henry has led the province’s response on the COVID-19 pandemic and toxic drug crisis public health emergencies.

Dr. Henry’s experience in public health, preventive medicine and global pandemics has extended throughout her career. Prior to her current role, Dr. Henry was the deputy provincial health officer for three years. She also served as the interim provincial executive medical director of the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) from December 2013 until August 2014.

She was the medical director of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control and Public Health Emergency Management with the BCCDC 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 from 2005 to 2014.

A specialist in public health and preventive medicine, Dr. Henry is board certified in preventive medicine in the U.S. She graduated from Dalhousie University Medical School and completed a Masters in Public Health in San Diego, residency training in preventive medicine at University of California, San Diego, and in public health and preventive medicine at University of Toronto.

She has worked internationally including with the World Health Organization (WHO)/UNICEF polio eradication program in Pakistan and with the WHO to control the Ebola outbreak in Uganda.

Before her specialty training Dr. Henry served in the Royal Canadian Navy as a physician, diving medicine specialist and flight surgeon, and worked as a family physician. She is a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine. She has served nationally on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization and the National Infection Control Guidelines steering committee and as chair of the Canadian Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health.

She has been involved with planning, surveillance and response to mass gatherings in Canada and internationally, including with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. She is also the author of Soap and Water and Common Sense: a guide to staying healthy in a microbe filled world, and co-author of Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic. Dr. Henry has been called “one of the most effective public health figures in the world” by the New York Times and “a calming voice in a sea of coronavirus madness” and a hero in national media. She was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 2021 and the British Columbia Medal of Good Citizenship in 2022. She also received a number of other honours and accolades for her public health leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic including honorary degrees from a number of post-secondary institutions and awards and recognition from medical associations and community organizations nationwide.