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UNBC awarding honorary degree to Dr. Henry

UNBC will award Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer, an honorary degree on June 25.
Bonnie Henry
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry speaks at a news briefing in Victoria.

UNBC will award Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer, an honorary degree on June 25.

Henry, who has led the province’s response on the COVID-19 pandemic and drug overdose emergency, is slated to receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree during the 2021 virtual convocation. 

Henry was appointed as B.C.’s public health officer in 2018 following three years as the deputy provincial health officer. 

“I am honoured to be recognized by the University of Northern British Columbia in this way,” she said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the importance of putting aside whatever differences we may have and working together with common purpose to explore, discover and innovate. This is what UNBC is all about and why I am so proud be receiving this honorary doctorate.”

Dr. Henry’s experience in public health, preventive medicine and global pandemics has extended throughout her career. She served in a number of senior roles at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and Toronto Public Health, including as the operational lead in the response to the SARS outbreak in Toronto. 

She has worked internationally with the WHO/UNICEF polio eradication program in Pakistan and with the WHO to control the Ebola outbreak in Uganda and has been actively involved in mass gathering health planning in Canada and internationally. 

She is a specialist in public health and preventive medicine and is board certified in preventive medicine in the U.S. She graduated from Dalhousie Medical School, completed a master’s in public health and residency training in preventive medicine at University of California, San Diego and in community medicine at University of Toronto. She is an associate professor in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC.