Simon Kennedy has joined Unity Health Toronto as Special Advisor, Strategy and Partnerships. In this role, he will be working to support Unity Health Toronto by helping to drive innovative projects and partnerships in areas such as artificial intelligence, knowledge translation, and health innovation. This includes fostering collaborations with partners across the health system, academia, government, and industry, while also advising leadership and mentoring researchers, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.
Mr. Kennedy brings more than three decades of public service experience at the highest levels of the Canadian government. From 2019 to 2024, he served as the Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED). Previously, as the Deputy Minister of Health (2015–2019), Mr. Kennedy led Health Canada’s response to the opioid crisis, negotiated federal-provincial health funding agreements, and advanced reforms in pharmaceutical pricing, nutrition labelling, vaping, and tobacco control. He also oversaw the legalization and regulation of cannabis, including development of the Cannabis Act.
During his civil-service career, he served on multiple public-sector and non-profit boards, including the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the International Economic Forum of the Americas.
This role is jointly sponsored by the St. Michael’s Hospital Department of Medicine and Knowledge Translation Program.