Featured Member: Dr. Noni MacDonald

Dr. Noni MacDonald is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, specializing in infectious diseases. Dr. MacDonald is also a member of the World Health Organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, where she lends her expertise on vaccines (including vaccine hesitancy, safety, pain mitigation, policy, and education). Dr. MacDonald is a contributor to CANVax, serves as an N4 subject-matter expert, and was the first woman to serve as a Dean of Medicine in Canada during her tenure at Dalhousie University. She is also a recipient of both the Order of Canada and the Order of Nova Scotia.  

Dr. MacDonald points to her front-row seat to the HIV/AIDS epidemic as shaping her social  consciousness, ultimately turning her into an advocate for health equity among minority groups (including newcomers). As an infectious disease doctor at a time before antiretroviral drugs were widely available, Dr. MacDonald saw many pediatric patients with HIV and was humbled and angered by the societal stigma that her patients faced. This is when she first began to use her voice to advocate for change, working with the wives of the Ottawa Senators to fundraise for CHEO’s immune deficiency clinic. The results of this fundraising initiative were announced during an Ottawa Senators game, and Dr. MacDonald recalls it as an important step in raising awareness about HIV and in turn, working to combat the stigma around the disease. 

As Canada continued to welcome immigrants and refugees during the 1980s, Dr. MacDonald saw an increased acceptance of newcomers, recalling, "when you had more refugees, and you had more immigrant children coming...you couldn’t not work on doing the things that needed to be done, and being respectful, listening to their stories, trying to make the system work for them, not them having to work for the system. It still makes me sad when I see places where people have to adapt to the system, and not the other way around.”  

In recent years Dr. MacDonald has witnessed a greater interest in immigrants and refugees in the medical community, and credits several factors for this: the launch of the website Caring for Kids New to Canada by the Canada Paediatric Association, the inclusion of questions about newcomer health on medical licensing exams, and newcomer communities advocating for their own needs. On a personal level, Dr. MacDonald’s own awareness of newcomers’ experiences grew from visiting over 100 countries in her work with the World Health Organization. Reflecting on these trips, she says, “you really become very sensitized to cultural differences – you become the one who is different, you became the one who doesn't fit, so you really, really start to understand even more about why we need to turn the telescope around, and so that patient centred-care truly should be centred on the patient and not on the healthcare worker.” 

Dr. MacDonald is honoured to be considered an expert in global health, and in refugee and immigrant health – her expertise has given her a platform to regularly speak to policymakers and advocate for change on behalf of the marginalized, both in Canada and around the world.  

Dr. MacDonald has not had a dull moment since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and she continues to advocate for evidence-based, patient-centred solutions and increased vaccine education efforts as steps to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake and cautions against the over-politicization of such complex issues. 

Dr. MacDonald has several hopes for areas in which the COVID-19 pandemic may spurn change. She’d like to see a drastic improvement in Canada’s long term care homes, including access, services provided, staff wages, and a reduction in the number of residents per room. “I want to see a big change in teaching critical thinking,” says Dr. MacDonald, going on to explain that misinformation and disinformation have resulted in people making decisions that negatively impacted their health, and the health of their families and communities.  

Dr. MacDonald hopes that people will be more respectful when public health bodies make decisions in the interest of the public. She also points to communities helping one another as a true silver-lining of the COVID-19 pandemic and hopes that these connections will continue. Globally, Dr. MacDonald is concerned about populations on the move, including refugees and migrants, and wants these populations taken much more into consideration in planning and policymaking.  

Dr. MacDonald welcomes the growing diversity of the Canadian population and hopes that Canada continues to welcome newcomers from around the world, saying, “N4 would not have existed 40 years ago. It’s an example of people coming together to make a difference.”