Regional council appoints new Medical Officer of Health

October 14, 2015 · 0 Comments

Peel Regional council last week appointed Dr. Eileen de Villa as the new Medical Officer of Health, effective immediately.
In her new role, de Villa will oversee the operations of Ontario’s second-largest public health unit, which administers health protection and promotion, and disease prevention services and programs to the 1.4 million people who live in Peel.
Since 2004, de Villa has served as one of Peel’s Associate Medical Officers of Health, supporting the Communicable Diseases and Environmental Health programs. During that time, she has also represented Peel’s interests on provincial and national committees in the areas of infectious diseases reporting, pandemic planning and urban health planning. For the last year, she has taken on the additional duties of acting Medical Officer of Health, including steering the 10-year strategic plan; providing oversight on key priorities, including living tobacco-free, nurturing the next generation and supportive environments for healthy living; and guiding the local response to Ebola.
“Dr. de Villa is a collaborative leader who has demonstrated she can effectively deliver health programs that serve the needs of the residents of Peel,” said Regional Chair Frank Dale. “We are pleased to have someone with her expertise and knowledge of our community guide this important part of our business into the future.”
De Villa graduated from the University of Toronto with both Master of Health Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees, and completed an MBA at York’s Schulich School of Business. She will be responsible for more than 650 staff that deliver a range of services and programs that focus on health protection, promotion and disease prevention. These include communicable disease control including immunization, restaurant inspections, healthy child development, chronic disease prevention and public health clinic operations.