Member, NCCID Advisory Board
Dr. Barbara Yaffe is the Director, Communicable Disease Control & Associate Medical Officer of Health for Toronto Public Health. Dr. Yaffe received her degrees as a Medical Doctor and Master of Health Sciences in Community Health and Epidemiology from the University of Toronto, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Public Health & Preventive Medicine. She is responsible for one of the largest communicable disease units in North America. In this position Dr. Yaffe leads the planning, delivery and evaluation of immunization programs, communicable disease surveillance, investigation and management of all reportable diseases, as well as sexual health and harm reduction clinical services. She was a key leader in the investigation and management of the largest SARS outbreak in North America in 2003, as well as acting as Incident Manager for Toronto’s H1N1 Pandemic Influenza response in 2009-2010. Dr. Yaffe has participated on numerous provincial committees on communicable disease prevention and control, most recently including the Communicable Diseases Subcommittee of the Ontario Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC), the Ontario Health Pandemic Influenza Plan (OHPIP) Advisory Committee, co-chair of the Immunization Subcommittee of OHPIP, the Workgroup on Community Infection Prevention and Control Lapses and the Pharmacy Influenza Immunization Implementation Committee. Dr. Yaffe has a status appointment as an Adjunct Professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and is an Examiner on the Public Health and Preventive Medicine Board of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.