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Dr. Sheela Basrur

building good public health through women's health

YWCA Toronto
women of distinction award 2004: health

Many first met Dr. Sheela Basrur during last year's SARS crisis. As the Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto, Dr. Basrur was the city's voice of reason, providing calm, clear and accessible information to a nervous population.

While her extraordinary leadership in the face of SARS brought her public notoriety, Dr. Basrur has a long history of accomplishments in the field of health. She has also been at the forefront of developing women's health programs, which give women more control over their bodies and their lives. She has supported sexual and reproductive health as well as multi-lingual health information for all Toronto women.

Public health is often the first point of contact with healthcare for many. Women and girls seeking access to services, information and resources have benefited from Dr. Basrur's understanding of them as both primary caretakers, affecting the health of their families and their communities, and as agents of their own well-being.

Since her appointment as Medical Officer of Toronto in 1998, she has been known for her problem-solving to address systemic problems. She has ensured that Toronto's Public Health department delivers equitable, accessible services that address the diverse needs of Toronto. She is also noted for her unique understanding of issues facing immigrant and refugee women and her expertise in Public Health is widely recognized. She is sought for her expertise internationally, particularly for her formidable skills in investigating and managing communicable disease outbreaks. As the Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto she headed one of the largest public health bodies in North America with an annual operating budget of $160 million and 1,800 staff across 30 locations.

Born in Toronto, Dr. Basrur completed a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1979, becoming a Doctor of Medicine in 1982 at the University of Toronto, followed by a rotating internship at Dalhousie University in 1983. After a year in general practice in Guelph, Ont., Dr. Basrur traveled to India and Nepal where she found her inspiration to pursue the study of public health.

In 1987, she completed a Masters of Health Sciences at the University of Toronto specializing in community health and epidemiology. This was followed by the completion of a post-graduate residency program, which made her a specialist in Community Medicine. Today, she serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto.

In 2003, Dr. Basrur was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and a Special Award of Merit from the Association of Local Public Health Agencies. She is the recipient of numerous other professional awards including the 2003 Public Service Award from the Ontario Psychological Association, the C.P. Shah Award for public health and the K.J.R. Wightman Award for Internal Medicine in 1982.

Dr. Basrur was recently appointed the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Public Health Division. In her new role, Dr. Basrur will be developing more effective health promotion strategies and programs, to deliver measurable results, while maintaining her stalwart commitment to the health of women and their children.

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