Isra Levy graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa in 1986, after which he immigrated to Canada, where he completed postgraduate studies at the University of Ottawa and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. With extensive clinical experience in both urban and rural general practice settings, as well as in- and out-patient practice in larger institutions, Dr. Levy was instrumental in the establishment of an Office for Public Health at the Canadian Medical Association in 2001, where he was that office’s founding director and chief medical officer. He joined the City of Ottawa’s Public Health Department in 2006 as Associate Medical Officer of Health and was subsequently appointed Medical Officer of Health in 2008. He helped launch the Canadian Mental Health Support Network and advocated for enhancement of mental health services to federal government groups such as the “Kirby” Senate Committee study of mental health in Canada. He also established and expanded organizational programming in mental health and addictions, and guided innovative public health initiatives including the response to the 2009 human influenza H1N1 pandemic, and expansion of the City of Ottawa’s smoke-free spaces legislation. Dr. Levy’s work has been recognized and published in numerous Canadian and international scientific journals – and he currently serves on the editorial boards of the Health Promotion and Chronic Diseases in Canada and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In 2010 he was awarded Physician of the Year by the Ottawa Academy of Medicine, and in 2018 was bestowed an honorary life membership by the Canadian Public Health Association in recognition of his exceptional body of work as an educator, researcher and practitioner in the field of public health. Early in 2018 Dr. Levy joined the executive management team at Canadian Blood Services as Vice President of Medical Affairs and Innovation. He continues to practice family medicine in Ottawa and is an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology and Community Medicine at the University of Ottawa.