Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer (Acting)
Dr. Lisa Simon, MD, MPH, CCFP, FRCPC
On Oct. 1, 2025, Dr. Simon began her role as medical officer of health and chief executive officer (MOH/CEO - Acting). Her appointment is subject to the approval of the Minister of Health, as required under the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
Dr. Lisa Simon is a public health and preventive medicine specialist who has served the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) since 2012. She brings deep regional insight, committed leadership, and a forward-thinking vision for public health.
As MOH/CEO, Dr. Simon provides public health medical leadership to protect and promote the health of the population and prevent disease. She is also responsible for the strategic leadership and management of all operations and public health programs and services for the populations in Simcoe Muskoka. Dr. Simon has particular areas of focus on substance use prevention and harm reduction, chronic disease prevention, school health, oral health, and emergency management.
Dr. Simon has been a long-standing champion for health equity and Indigenous engagement and has provided public health leadership for SMDHU’s strategic initiatives in these domains. Her local leadership has also included collaborating to address the drug toxicity crisis facing the region since 2017; guiding data-driven and community-informed responses to the COVID-19 pandemic; and supporting the role of healthy public policies in addressing income insecurity and household food insecurity.
Provincially, Dr. Simon has participated in public health advisory and leadership capacities regarding substance use, chronic disease prevention, and health equity.
She holds a medical degree from the University of Calgary, a Master of Public Health from the University of Toronto and completed residency training in Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Family Medicine at McMaster University. Dr. Simon also serves as faculty in the Public Health and Preventive Medicine residency program at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Associate Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Colin Lee, MD, MSc, CCFP(EM), FRCPC
Dr. Colin Lee is a graduate of the University of Toronto, McGill University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in England. He is a Royal College certified public health and preventive medicine specialist who has been with the health unit since 2003. He is currently an Associate Medical Officer of Health whose primary responsibilities are in infectious disease prevention and control, immunization and sexual health. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He had the opportunity to serve part-time at Public Health Ontario as a public health physician in communicable disease control from 2009 to 2013. He is also a certified emergency medicine physician who practiced at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie from 2003 to 2008. He continues to work part-time at an urgent care clinic.
This dual career in public health and clinical medicine provides invaluable opportunities to strengthen links between local health care providers and the health unit, and to enhance clinical protocols that impact public health.
He has a long-standing interest in infectious diseases and is Past Chair of the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC) on Communicable Disease, which advised the Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario on infectious disease issues. His interest in public health extends beyond Simcoe Muskoka borders, as he has previously provided public health consultancies in malaria, HIV/AIDS and public health policy to organizations in sub-Saharan Africa.
Public Health Physician
Dr. Michelle Quaye, MD, MPH, CCFP, DTM&H
Dr. Michelle Quaye is a public health physician with a background in clinical practice, academics, and public health leadership. With SMDHU, Dr. Quaye is responsible for senior management and public health medical leadership for programming under the Office of the Medical Officer of Health, including communications, population health assessment, surveillance, equity and Indigenous engagement. She also provides public health guidance for parent and child health programming, and for environmental health issues.
Dr. Quaye has practiced as a family physician, providing primary care and sexual health care services. Her Public Health and Preventive Medicine residency training at Queen’s University included work with the World Health Organization, Public Health Ontario, the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, and several local public health units in Ontario.
Dr. Quaye is a passionate advocate for community engagement, as well as for diversity, equity and inclusion. She has served in leadership roles with Girl Guides of Canada and with several medical training environments to deepen diversity and equity throughout all stages of training. These roles underscore her collaborative approach and dedication to advancing equity—values that align closely with those of the health unit.
She received her medical degree from Western University, and she also has a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
