Born in the United Kingdom in 1943, Dr. Perry Kendall
completed his undergraduate medical training at University
College Hospital Medical School in 1968 and interned
at the Seaman's Hospital in Greenwich, before spending
a year as Senior House Officer at the University Hospital
of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1972 he
moved to Toronto, Canada and spent two years working
in general practice and at Toronto's Hassle Free Clinic.
In 1974 he moved to Vancouver and worked for the Vancouver
Health Department's Pine Free Clinic and East Health
Unit while acquiring a Master's Degree in Health Care
Planning and Epidemiology and a Fellowship in Community
Medicine. In 1984 he returned to Ontario and was Manager,
Disease Control and Epidemiology Services with the
Ontario Ministry of Health until 1987, when he returned
to British Columbia as Medical Officer of Health for
the Capital Regional District, in which capacity he
opened one of Canada's first needle exchange programs.
In 1989 he took on the role of Medical Officer of Health
for the City of Toronto, a position he held for six
years, during which time he pioneered programs for
AIDS/HIV and drug abuse prevention, established Harm
Reduction as the official City policy for substance
abuse and was involved in developing and promoting
the City's comprehensive tobacco control by-laws. In
1991 he received an Addiction Research Foundation Community
Achievement Award for leadership in substance abuse
prevention. In 1992 he received the Non Smokers Rights
Association Award of Merit for outstanding contributions
to environmental health and disease prevention.
In 1993 Dr. Kendall spent a year on secondment to
the Deputy Minister of Health as Special Adviser on
Long Term Care and Population Health.
In March 1995 he was appointed President and CEO of
the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario, one of
six academic health science centres in Toronto and
a WHO Collaborating Centre, a position he held until
the Foundation's amalgamation with three other hospitals
to form the Addiction and Mental Health Services Corporation
on January 23rd, 1998.
In April 1998 he took on the position of Vice-President,
Seniors' Health, with the Capital Health Region in
Victoria.
May 3, 1999 Dr. Kendall assumed the position of Provincial
Health Officer for the province of British Columbia.
In June 2005 Dr. Kendall was awarded the Order
of British Columbia for his contributions to Public
Health practice and to harm reduction policy and practice
in BC.
The Health Act outlines the role of the Provincial
Health Officer (PHO). As senior medical health officer
for British Columbia (BC), the PHO's responsibilities
include:
- advising the Minister and senior members of the
ministry on health issues in BC and on the need for
legislation, policies and practices concerning those
issues;
- monitoring the health of the people of BC;
- providing information and analyses on health issues;
- reporting to the public on health issues, the need
for legislation, a change of policy, or practice
respecting health in BC.
Dr. Kendall participates on a number of committees
at the provincial and national level and co-chairs
the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network Council.
He is
married with two children.
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