Chris Simpson
Biography:
Dr. CHRIS SIMPSON is Executive Vice-President (Acute and Hospital Based Care) and Chief Medical Executive at Ontario Health – the provincial Crown agency that oversees and operates Ontario’s health care system. He is also a Professor of Medicine and a cardiologist specializing in heart rhythm disorders at Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Centre.
He was Chief of Cardiology at Queen’s for 10 years before being appointed Vice-Dean (Clinical) at Queen’s Health Sciences. During his tenure, he stepped in as Acting Dean and Acting CEO of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO) for 6 months.
He has served as an American College of Cardiology governor, and on the boards of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Cardiac Care Network, CorHealth and the Council of Canadian Academies. He chaired the Canadian Wait Time Alliance (WTA) for 5 years, ending in 2016. The WTA developed evidence-based wait time benchmarks for over 1000 surgeries, procedures and specialty consultations.
He was the 2014-15 President of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), championing seniors care and helping to guide the profession through changes in Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) and cannabis legislation. He went on serve as Canadian representative to the World Medical Association (2017-19).
He served as president of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) from 2020-2021, during which time the Academy developed scientific assessments on autism and dental care which have served as the foundations for a national strategy on autism and the recently announced National Dental Plan. More recently, he co-chaired a CAHS assessment on the health care workforce commissioned by Health Canada. This work will inform government strategies to address the national health workforce crisis.
Dr. Simpson’s clinical, academic and policy interests include inherited heart rhythm disorders, cardiac resynchronization therapy, leadless pacing, access to care and wait times, health care workforce planning, and seniors’ care.
Activities:
Walter Gordon Symposium — Rethinking Canada's Affordability Crisis: Cross-Sectoral Perspectives Challenges, and Solutions