Public Policy at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy | University of Toronto

Danielle Martin is Vice President, Medical Affairs and Health System Solutions at Women’s College Hospital (WCH) and a family physician in the Family Practice Health Centre at WCH. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, with cross appointments at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and the School of Public Policy and Governance.

Dr. Martin’s focus is on improving health at the system level as well as the individual level. In addition to being an active medical educator, her clinical work has involved remote northern medicine as well as a current focus on maternity care.

Dr. Martin’s policy expertise and passion for equity have made her a national leader in the debate over the future of Canada’s health care system. She holds a Masters of Public Policy from the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto. In 2006, her first year in practice, she helped launch Canadian Doctors for Medicare, the voice for Canadian physicians who believe in “a high quality, equitable, sustainable health system built on the best available evidence as the highest expression of Canadians caring for one another”. She chaired the board of CDM until May 2013.

A recipient of the Canadian Medical Association Award for Young Leaders, Dr. Martin sat two terms on the Health Council of Canada from 2005-2011. In 2006 the Ontario College of Family Physicians recognized her as one of three New Family Doctors of the Year.

In 2013 Dr Martin was named by the Toronto Star in its list of the “13 People to Watch.” And watch they have: in March 2014, her presentation to a United States Senate Subcommittee about the Canadian health care system brought her international acclaim and has been viewed by nearly 2 million people across the globe.

Dr Martin works as an expert both within and outside academia on issues relating to the preservation and enhancement of public health care, and the intersection of primary care with other parts of our health and social systems. As an advocate and researcher she is increasingly involved in work relating to national pharmacare and poverty reduction.

Danielle has a significant media presence and is often approached by media to comment on issues relating to health and health care systems. She is the medical correspondent for CBC’s The National, a monthly columnist in Chatelaine magazine, and an in-demand speaker on the future of Canada’s health care system.

In her work at WCH Danielle is helping to advance the vision for Women’s College Hospital as a “hospital designed to keep people out of hospital”, developing and evaluating new models of care that deliver solutions to the most pressing issues facing Canada’s health system