Dr. Deena Hinshaw, ousted from Alberta, moves to job with B.C. public health leaders
The former chief medical officer, who was removed from her post in Alberta, has accepted a new position on BC’s public health leadership team, the westernmost province said Wednesday.
dr Deena Hinshaw, who became the face of Alberta’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will serve as BC’s assistant provincial health officer on a six-month contract.
“To strengthen BC’s preparedness and response to current and future public health emergencies, I am pleased to introduce new additions to our public health leadership team at the Office of the PHO,” wrote Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC Provincial Health Officer, in a statement.
In addition to Hinshaw, BC also has Dr. Andrew Larder hired as a “temporary assignment” for several months. Larder previously worked as a Medical Health Officer for Fraser and Interior Health.
“I feel very fortunate to be working with such talented and dedicated public health experts and I know their expertise will be of great help as we emerge from the pandemic and continue to address the many public health challenges we are facing.” the province is facing,” Henry said.
Hinshaw was replaced as Alberta’s chief health officer in November. The province’s new chief minister, Danielle Smith, announced in her first days in office that she would be removing Hinshaw and recruiting a new team of public health advisers who view COVID-19 as an endemic disease.
Smith has made it clear that she blames both Hinshaw and Alberta’s health services for not providing Albertans with the best advice and care as the hospital system nearly collapsed in successive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many of the bad decisions were made by Alberta Health Services based on bad advice from the Chief Medical Officer of Health,” Smith told reporters Oct. 22.
Hinshaw served as Alberta’s chief medical health officer for more than three years. She previously worked in public health since 2010.
CLOCK | BC Health Minister welcomes Dr. Deena Hinshaw in BC:
BC Health Minister Adrian Dix said Hinshaw’s “extraordinary” work experience was welcomed in the westernmost province, despite the circumstances surrounding her departure from her previous post as Alberta’s top doctor.
Like Henry, Hinshaw’s hundreds of regularly scheduled COVID-19 updates during the early years of the pandemic made Hinshaw a familiar figure across the province.
She was widely praised for a calm, measured approach in the early months of the pandemic, but faced a slew of controversies in 2021 – including an admission with former Prime Minister Jason Kenney that the province was too quick to lift restrictions over the summer and a bonus had received valued at $228,000 that year.
On Wednesday, British Columbia Health Secretary Adrian Dix said he was “delighted” that Hinshaw was moving west and respected the work she was doing at the height of the pandemic.
“Alberta had its own set of challenges that … I observed for myself,” he said during a news conference.
“But I think this is an outstanding public health doctor, an extraordinary leader, someone who has undergone an enormous test that I don’t think they expected – or anyone expected. She did an exceptional job.” He continued.
“I can’t imagine why you don’t have an excellent public health doctor like Dr. would like to hire Hinshaw.”
