The University of the Fraser Valley has awarded provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry with an honorary degree.
Henry received an honorary doctor of laws degree at the June 15th convocation ceremonies in Abbotsford for her contributions to public health, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Henry was unable to attend the ceremonies in person, but addressed the audience of health sciences graduates via a pre-recorded video.
“I know that, for you, the world has changed more than any of us could have imagined, even three short or perhaps long years ago,” she said.
“I know for many of you, your entire university experience was in the shadow of the global pandemic and all the uncertainty that came with that. As we found our way through these challenging times, I know that your experience may not have been the same as you imagined, especially early on when so much of our world was remote.
“But being here today shows how you overcame these changes, these hurdles, and succeeded despite the challenges. And in this moment of looking back, while also trying to imagine the future, I see more than ever just how transformational university can be. It is a place of great learning, yes, but above all, it is a place of vital, life-changing connection, a place to see and hear people who come from different places and think differently.”
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Henry’s interest in public health, preventive medicine, and global pandemics has been a common thread throughout her career. She is the first woman to hold the position of B.C. provincial health officer.
While completing her degree from Dalhousie University, Henry followed in her father’s footsteps by joining the Canadian Armed Forces. She spent 10 years as a naval warfare officer with the Naval Reserve.
Henry was the deputy provincial health officer in B.C. for three years and also served as the interim provincial executive medical director of the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).
She has worked internationally including with the WHO/UNICEF polio eradication program in Pakistan and with the World Health Organization to control the Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
Henry was the medical director of communicable disease prevention and control and public health emergency management with the BCCDC and medical director for the provincial emerging and vector-borne diseases program, as well as a provincial program for surveillance and control of healthcare-associated infections from 2005 to 2014.
During her time as associate medical officer of health with Toronto Public Health, she was responsible for the emergency services unit and the communicable disease liaison unit. In 2003, she was the operational lead in the response to the SARS outbreak in Toronto.
She graduated from Dalhousie Medical School and completed a master of public health in San Diego, as well as residency training in preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego and in community medicine at the University of Toronto.
Henry is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia. She is the past chair of Immunize Canada.
She chaired the Canadian Public Health Measures Task Group and was a member of the Infection Control Expert Group and the Canadian Pandemic Coordinating Committee responding to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.