Dr. Peter Donnelly, President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Peter Donnelly is an accomplished leader with extensive experience in government
and public health program development and delivery at the local, national and international levels.
Prior to joining Public Health Ontario, Dr. Donnelly was the Professor of Public Health Medicine at the University of St Andrews in
Scotland, where he established and led public health medicine research and teaching. From 2004 to 2008, he was the Deputy Chief
Medical Officer to the Scottish Government, providing senior leadership and coordination at a national level. His experience includes
national planning for communicable disease control and pandemic and emergency preparedness, as well as a range of public health
promotion initiatives in areas such as tobacco control legislation, alcohol policy and sexual health. As the Director of Public Health in
two jurisdictions, he was responsible for the delivery of local public health services and programs.
Donnelly received his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh Medical School and has earned multiple degrees and
credentials, including masters in both business administration and public health.
He is an active researcher and lecturer in many areas of public health, with a focus on health systems governance and on violence
reduction. He is involved with numerous national and international associations, including the international editorial board of Public
Health, the World Health Organization Violence Prevention Alliance, the New York-based Milbank Memorial
Fund. He is a past vice President of the UK Faculty of Public Health and past president of the UK Association of Directors of Public
Health.
Education
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Doctor of medicine, University of Edinburgh
Masters of public health, University of Wales College of Medicine
Masters of business administration, University of Stirling
Membership by examination of the Faculty of Public Health United Kingdom
Specialist accreditation in Public Health Medicine, United Kingdom General Medical Council
Diploma in anesthetics, Royal College of Surgeons
Bachelor of medicine and Bachelor of surgery, University of Edinburgh
Program for management development, Harvard University School of Business Administration
Certificate in health services management, Institute of Health Service Management
Honours
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Doctor of science honoris causa, Edinburgh Napier University
Honorary Professor of Public Health, St Andrews University, Scotland
Fellowship, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Fellowship, Royal College of Physicians of London
Fellowship, United Kingdom Faculty of Public Health
Areas of expertise
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Public health
Health systems governance
Violence reduction
Selected publications (2013/14)
Pending publication on November 6, 2014:
Oxford Textbook of Violence Prevention: Epidemiology, Evidence and Policy. Co-editor (with Cathy Ward, University of Cape
Town) for Oxford University Press
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Williams D, Donnelly PD. Is violence a disease? Situating violence prevention in public health policy and practice (peer
reviewed invited paper). Public Health. Forthcoming 2014.
Clar C, Dyakova M, Curtis K, Dawson C, Donnelly P, Knifton L, Clarke A. Just telling and selling; current limitations in the
use of digital media in Public; a scoping Review. Public Health. Forthcoming 2014.
Wilson I, Greer SL, Stewart EA, Donnelly PD. Turnout, Information and Heuristics in the Scottish Health Board Elections:
“Getting a CV with no job description”. Political Studies. Forthcoming 2014.
Stewart EA, Wilson I, Donnelly PD and Greer SL. “I didn’t have a clue what we were doing” (Not) engaging 17 and 17
year old voters in Scotland. Scottish Affairs. 23.3 (2014); 354–368, DOI: 10.3366/scot.2014.0034
Donnelly PD "It's The Population, Stupid": Why Changing the Policy Frame Should Help Scotland Tackle Its Problem with
Cheap Alcohol (commentary).The Milbank Quarterly. 2014; 92(2):284-8.
Greer SL, Wilson Iain, Stewart EA ,Donnelly PD. ‘Democratizing’ public services? Representation and elections in the
Scottish NHS. Public Administration. Forthcoming 2014.
Greer SL, Stewart EA, Wilson Iain, Donnelly PD. Victory for volunteerism? Scottish Health Board elections and
participation in the welfare state. Social science and Medicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.053
Gordon V Williams DJ Donnelly PD. Relationship between ADHD symptoms and antisocial behavior in a sample of older
youths in adult Scottish prisons. Personality and individual differences. 2014;58:116-121
Williams DJ, Neville FG, House K and Donnelly PD Association between Old Firm football matches and reported
domestic (violence) incidents in Strathclyde, Scotland. SAGE open. 2013; 3, 3 1-7
Coid JW, Ullrich S, Keers R, Bebbington P, DeStavola B, Kallis C, Yang M, Reiss D, Jenkins R , Donnelly PD Gang
membership, violence, and psychiatric morbidity. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 2013;
10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.12091188
Donnelly PD. Health inequality and governance in Scotland since 2007 (commentary). Public Health. 2013; 127:515-516
Neville FG, Williams DJ, Goodall CA, Murer JS, Donnelly PD. An Experimental Trial Exploring the Impact of Continuous
Transdermal Alcohol Monitoring upon Alcohol Consumption in a Cohort of Male Students. Plos ONE. 2013; 8: e67386