David Butler-Jones was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 9:30 a.m. ceremony on Tuesday, June 9 “in recognition of his outstanding service as Chief Public Health Officer in times of crisis and his leadership in making the Public Health Agency of Canada the highly respected organization it is today.”
David Butler-Jones was the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada (Head of the Public Health Agency of Canada) from 2004 to 2014 and was the first person to hold this office. Throughout his distinguished career, he has worked in many parts of Canada in both public health and clinical medicine.
He has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels and has been actively involved as a researcher and consultant in public health issues. He is a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, a clinical professor with the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine.
He has received the Canadian Public Health Association Robert Davies Defries Award and the Canadian Medical Association’s Medal of Service. Currently, he is the Senior Medical Officer and Atlantic Region Medical Officer for the First Nations and Inuit Health division of Health Canada.