Paul McDonald

Paul McDonald is a professor of health policy and management in the Faculty of Health at York University in Toronto, Canada.

He served as dean of the Faculty between 2016 and 2022. Prior to joining York University, he served as the founding Pro Vice Chancellor of the College of Health at Massey University in New Zealand for four years. He also served in various leadership roles in the University of Waterloo over a 15-year period, including director of the School of Public Health, Chair of the Department of Health Studies and Gerontology, and director of the Population Health Research Group. He has extensive managerial and governance experience in the public health and health care service sectors and has been a policy consultant to ministries and agencies in multiple nations.

Paul has published 200+ scientific papers and reports related to health promotion, the primary prevention of chronic illnesses, and their determinants. He has expertise in the use of policies, programs, marketing, knowledge exchange and capacity building to enhance population and public health, particularly as it relates to tobacco control and cessation. His recent interests include systems approaches to population intervention and planning to reduce non-communicable and chronic illness, and the role of social networks and human connection on health. He holds a PhD in health studies with specialization in population health and an Honours BA in psychology from the University of Waterloo, as well as a master's degree in clinical psychology from the University of Western Ontario. He is a fellow of both the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society for Public Health.