Dr. Arlene King's Biography
April 23, 2009 12:29 PM
Dr. Arlene King - an international expert in immunization, infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness - has been Director General of the Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infections Diseases at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) since December 2007.
This was her latest role at Health Canada/Public Health Agency of Canada where she has been since 1999. Prior to this position, Dr. King was Director General of Pandemic Preparedness at PHAC from March 2006 to December 2007.
Prior to joining Health Canada, Dr. King held various positions in communicable disease control at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Society from 1995 to 1999.
She served as the Medical Officer of Health in Burnaby, B.C. from 1992 to 1994, and a Unit Medical Officer of Health in Vancouver in 1992.
Dr. King practiced medicine as a family physician in Fairview, Alberta from 1985 to 1989.
She received her medical degree from McMaster University in 1981 and certification in Family Medicine from the University of Calgary in 1984. In 1990, she received a Masters Degree in Health Sciences from the University of British Columbia and in 1992, became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Community Medicine. She continues to be an Adjunct Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC.
In 2003, she received Health Canada's Deputy Minister's Award of Merit for her contribution to Canada's National SARS Response and in 2006, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada's Medal for establishing the Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat as Canada's focal point for health sector pandemic preparedness.
Dr. King is on two World Health Organization (WHO) advisory committees on pandemic preparedness and has been a consultant to the WHO on polio, SARS and influenza, and to the World Bank and to the Canadian International Development Agency on Emerging Infectious Diseases. She is a member of the Pan American Health Organization technical advisory group on immunization and belongs to the WHO Africa Region Polio Eradication Certification Commission. From 2004 to 2006, she served on the Board of the Global Alliance on Immunization (GAVI).
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
ontario.ca/health