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Kwame McKenzie

Dr. Kwame McKenzie, MD, is a psychiatrist with a focus on the social causes of illness and the development of effective, equitable social policy and health systems.

As a policy advisor, clinician and academic with over 250 papers, 5 books, and numerous awards, he has worked across a broad spectrum to improve population health and health services for three decades.

Dr. McKenzie has set up award-winning services. In addition to developing health policy for governments, he continues to see patients and train clinicians and researchers. Dr. McKenzie has international experience in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and United States.

He provided no information regarding Conflicts of Interest in his solitary disclosure form to the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, despite holding simultaneous conflicting positions and affiliations across various levels of government - including supra-national.1)

Affiliations

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

McKenzie is the Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).3)

The CAMH is funded to the tune of millions of dollars by pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline, and a long list of other individuals and organizations with pharmaceutical or globalist interests such as Canadian National Railway (a Bill Gates company), IBM, Coca Cola, Apple, Microsoft (a Bill Gates company), and even his media associates at the Toronto Star.4)

Government of Canada

Employment and Social Development Canada

McKenzie is a member of the National Advisory Council on Poverty.5)

Health Canada

McKenzie is a Co-chair of the Expert Task Force on Substance Misuse under Health Canada.6)

He is also a member of the Minister of Health's Covid-19 Testing and Tracing Advisory panel alongside Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Public Health Ontario.7) The panel's report concluded that among other factors, teacher's vaccination status must be taken into account when developing and implementing school-based testing and tracing policies.8)

Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table

McKenzie is on the Mental Health Working Group of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.9)

Ontario Hospital Association

McKenzie formerly sat on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Hospital Association, and on the Transition Planning Special Committee.10) 11)

Members of the OHA include SickKids, Clinical Trials Ontario (which has a Pfizer employee on its board),12) Ontario Health, Public Health Ontario, Sinai Health Foundation, St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation, Honeywell, and Johnson Controls.13)

Province of Ontario

McKenzie serves on the Ontario Health Data Council.14)

McKenzie was Chair of the Research and Evaluation Advisory Committee for the Universal Basic Income pilot program in Ontario.15)

He also served as a Human Rights Commissioner for Ontario.16)

United Nations

McKenzie was a Canadian Delegate to the United Nations High-level Political Forum, the “central platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals”.17) 18)

United Way

McKenzie has been a member of the board for United Way Toronto.19)

University of Toronto

McKenzie is a Professor and the Co-Director of the Division of Equity Gender and Population in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.20) 21)

Wellesley Institute

McKenzie is the CEO of the Wellesley Institute, a registered non-profit charity that “works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the Greater Toronto Area through action on the social determinants of health.”22) 23)

The Institute is partnered with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Children First Canada (sponsored by the Canadian Red Cross, TD Bank Group, TELUS, Shaw Communications, Cisco, and Global Public Affairs),24) and United Way (sponsored by Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, and many other relevant corporate members).25)

World Health Organization

McKenzie is a consultant with the World Health Organization on equity.

Media

In addition to his academic, policy and clinical work, Kwame has been a columnist for the Guardian, Times-online and the Toronto Star, as well as a past BBC Radio presenter.26)

Toronto Star

The Toronto Star provides funding to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), creating a conflict of interest for McKenzie.

2)
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). (2020, September 30). COVID-19 and Near-Term Research : Expert Advisory Panel (EAP). Government of Canada. https://archive.ph/oz2au
3) , 11) , 20)
Dr. Kwame McKenzie. CAMH. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/YtnSc
4)
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. (2021, March 31). CAMHF 2020–21 Annual Report Donor Listing. Retrieved December 3, 2021, from https://www.camh.ca/-/media/files/camhf-2020-21-annual-report-donor-listing.pdf
5)
Employment and Social Development Canada. (2020, May 15). Members of the National Advisory Council on Poverty. Government of Canada. https://archive.ph/wMQsp
7)
Health Canada. (2021a, March 12). School COVID-19 testing and screening optimization strategies. Government of Canada. https://archive.ph/0gkm5
8)
Bogoch, I., Krajden, M., Longtin, J., McKenzie, K., Moore, K., Naylor, D., Pilla, D., Wilson, B., Yiu, V., Zelmer, J., Paish, S., Dhalla, I., Liu, M., Downer, M., Yan, T., Rotenberg, S., Rajesh, N. U., Cooper, J., & Arora, R. (2021). Priority strategies to optimize testing and screening for primary and secondary schools. Health Canada. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/hc-sc/documents/services/drugs-health-products/covid19-industry/medical-devices/testing-screening-advisory-panel/reports-summaries/primary-secondary-schools/primary-secondary-schools-en.pdf
9) , 17) , 23) , 26)
About Us. Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/about/#mckenzie-kwame
10)
Special Committee: Transition Planning. Ontario Health Association. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/qdPvR
12)
20/21 Annual Report. (2021, November 19). Clinical Trials Ontario. https://www.ctontario.ca/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CTO-2021-Annual-Report_FINAL_11.19.21.pdf
13)
OHA Members. Ontario Hospital Association. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/NSyem
14)
Ontario Health Data Council - Public Appointments Secretariat. (2021). Government of Ontario. https://archive.ph/0Ya2i
15)
Ontario Basic Income Pilot Helping Provide More Security and Opportunity. Province of Ontario. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/m5daM
16)
Attorney General. (2016, September 30). Ontario Appoints Five New Human Rights Commissioners. Province of Ontario. https://archive.ph/AogDM
18)
High-Level Political Forum 2021 (HLPF 2021) .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. United Nations. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/OqNeU
19)
Kwame McKenzie. ISPS UK 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/azSBD
21)
Kwame McKenzie | MHSc Translational Research. (2020, December 2). Wayback Machine; University of Toronto. https://web.archive.org/web/20201202073504/https://trp.utoronto.ca/person/kwame-mckenzie
22)
About. Wellesley Institute. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/goAka
24)
Donors & Partners. Children First Canada. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/h9pN6
25)
United Way Partners. United Way. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://archive.ph/eGWez
27)
McKenzie, K. (2021, December 6). Opinion | We need a strategy to avert vaccine inequity in racialized children. The Toronto Star. https://archive.ph/NG12A
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