Alberta’s former chief medical officer has taken on a new job on B.C.’s public health leadership team, the westernmost province announced Wednesday.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who has become the face of Alberta’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will serve as B.C.’s Deputy Provincial Health Officer on a six-month contract.
“We are pleased to share the new additions to the Public Health Leadership Team at the PHO Office to strengthen BC’s preparedness and response to current and future public health emergencies,” said BC Health. Officer in charge, Dr. Bonnie Henry, wrote in a statement.
Like Hinshaw, BC hired Dr. Andrew Larder on a “temporary assignment” for several months. Larder previously worked as a medical health officer at both Fraser and Interior Health.
“We are very fortunate to be working with such talented and dedicated public health professionals as we come out of the pandemic and continue to address the many public health challenges facing our state. I know their expertise will be of great help to us,” Henry said.
Hinshaw Replaced as Alberta’s chief health official in NovemberThe state’s new prime minister, Daniel Smith, announced on his first day in office that he would sack Hinshaw and hire a new team of public health advisors who see COVID-19 as endemic.
Smith has accused both Hinshaw and Alberta Health Services of failing to provide the best advice and care to Albertans as the hospital system nearly collapsed during the wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. made it clear.
“Many bad decisions were made by the Alberta Health Service based on bad advice from the Chief Medical Officer for Health,” Smith told reporters on October 22.
Hinshaw was Alberta’s Chief Medical and Health Officer for over three years. She has worked in the field of public health since 2010.
Like Henry, Hinshaw became a household name across the state through hundreds of regularly scheduled COVID-19 updates early in the pandemic.
She was widely praised for her calm and cautious approach in the early months of the pandemic, but faced a string of controversies in 2021. She was worth $228,000 that year.
