Dr. Joss Reimer will start her three-year term at the beginning of April, the Public Health Agency says.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
A former president of the Canadian Medical Association and medical lead for Manitoba’s COVID-19 Taskforce is set to take over as the chief public health officer of Canada at the start of April.
Joss Reimer will start her three-year term at the beginning of April, the Public Health Agency said Friday. It has taken more than a year to find a replacement for Theresa Tam, whose term ended in June. Dr. Reimer will take over the top job from Howard Njoo, who is serving as interim CPHO.
PHAC said Dr. Reimer joins the agency at a critical time, while Canada faces a resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases, threats posed by avian influenza, HIV and tuberculosis, as well as the continuing effects of the illegal drug crisis and harmful impacts of false health information.
Dr. Reimer said in a statement that it is a privilege to serve Canadians when “trusted, evidence-based public health leadership is more important than ever.”
“I look forward to working alongside public health professionals, partners and communities across the country to protect and promote the health of Canadians,” she said.
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There is also growing apprehension in Canada among officials about the politicization of public health. That has been fuelled by the U.S. administration, including President Donald Trump’s decision to leave the World Health Organization, which sparked concern about eroding global health surveillance. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has criticized immunizations, has also been the subject of mounting unease by public-health experts.
Late last year, Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel told The Canadian Press she could not trust the U.S. as a “reliable partner” of health and scientific information.
Ms. Michel said in a statement that she is pleased to welcome Dr. Reimer as CPHO and to work with her to “address pressing and complex public health challenges.”
The CPHO role, first created through federal legislation in 2004, sees an individual appointed by the federal cabinet to serve as the lead public-health professional.
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The CPHO is expected to strengthen Canada’s ability to respond to public-health threats, outbreaks and emergencies. The COVID-19 global pandemic, which the WHO declared in March, 2020, is an example of this kind of emergency.
Dr. Reimer brings expertise in health communications, equity, sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, and immunizations, PHAC said.
The agency also said Dr. Reimer has contributed to many scientific publications and presentations in both official languages and was the medical lead and spokesperson for Manitoba’s COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce. In addition, she served as the chief medical officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
CMA president Margot Burnell called Dr. Reimer a “passionate leader and respected voice in public health,” and said she has watched her lead the fight against false health information.
Dr. Burnell said in a Friday statement that Dr. Reimer delivered CMA’s formal apology in 2024 to Indigenous peoples for the harms caused by the medical profession, calling this an “important step on our path toward reconciliation in health care.”
Dr. Reimer has also been open about her own struggle of living with depression.
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She will replace Dr. Tam, who took on the role in June, 2017. She became well-known during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw PHAC roll out the largest vaccination campaign in Canadian history.
Dr. Tam described facing abuse and how that was personally difficult as a woman from a visible minority background. Dr. Tam and PHAC also faced criticism for the pandemic response and the lack of an early warning about the virus from the Global Public Health Intelligence Network.
In an exit interview in June, Dr. Tam said having to be in the spotlight for a long period of time was hard, but not unexpected. And she noted that communicating with everyone is very important in the role.
She also offered advice to her future successor: “Focus on your values and singular purpose when the going gets tough. That’s what keeps you going, like protecting public health, improving health of the population and serving those who are experiencing inequities.”