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Organization

This section describes the Public Health Sudbury & Districts’ organizational structure.

Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer

2023 Headshot of Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Medical Officer of Health of Public Health Sudbury & Districts

Dr. Penny Sutcliffe

Penny Sutcliffe (MD, MHSc, FRCPC) began her appointment with Public Health Sudbury & Districts in 2000 as the area’s Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer. A Specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Dr. Sutcliffe completed most of her training in Toronto with two years in Newfoundland and Labrador.

While Northeastern Ontario is now her home, she has worked in Thompson, Manitoba, as Medical Officer of Health, and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, as Regional Medical Officer of Health and Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for the Territories.

Dr. Sutcliffe completed her Royal College Fellowship in Preventive Medicine and Public Health in 1997 through the University of Toronto and trained in family medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. She obtained her medical degree in 1992 from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Sutcliffe’s 2007/08 sabbatical year in Québec City enhanced her French-language abilities and also her understanding of the unique health system structures and processes in Québec.

She has participated in many provincial initiatives contributing to public health renewal in Ontario. She has been the Chair of the Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health (COMOH) and President and a board member of the Association of Local Public Health Agencies (alPHa). She was a member of the Agency Implementation Task Force and of the Research and Knowledge Transfer Subcommittee and the Public Health Funding Subcommittee of the Capacity Review Committee.

Dr. Sutcliffe has a faculty appointment with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine as Associate Professor of Public Health, Human Sciences Division, and Associate Professor of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, at Lakehead University/Laurentian University.

She was the chair of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeon’s Examination Board for Community Medicine. She is a recipient of the Canadian Health Research Foundation’s Executive Training for Research Application (EXTRA) Fellowship (2008-2010) and received a Master’s Certificate in Leadership following her participation in the first cohort of the Ontario Medical Association/Canadian Medical Association/Schulich School of Business Physician Leadership Development Program (2010-2011).

Dr. Sutcliffe has a longstanding interest in health promotion and population health and a keen understanding of how local public health efforts can effectively reduce social inequities in health. Rural and northern health, public health systems and evidence-informed practice are areas of great interest to her.

Executive Assistant and Secretary to the Board of Health

Rachel Quesnel

Corporate Services Division

Positions:

Services:

Health Promotion Division

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Health Protection Division

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Programs:

Knowledge and Strategic Services

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Services:

Knowledge and Strategic Services plays both a key leadership and support role in the implementation of the Foundational Standard of the Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS), and in the areas of professional practice and development. Our core function is to provide reliable information, share knowledge, and build capacity to support excellence in public health practice within the agency.

Activities and services include:

School Health, Vaccine Preventable Diseases, and COVID-19 Prevention

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This item was last modified on October 12, 2023