Alberta’s chief medical officer out as contract ends, province looking for successor

EDMONTON — Alberta is seeking a new chief medical officer of health as the government says Dr. Mark Joffe’s contract has expired.

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s office said in an email Tuesday that Joffe’s contract expired a day prior. It said an interim replacement is to be announced shortly and a search for a permanent replacement has begun.

Joffe was serving in the role on an interim basis after Premier Danielle Smith’s government followed through on its 2022 commitment to fire Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who held the position throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

LaGrange’s office said Joffe served Albertans with “dedication and professionalism, providing public health expertise during a time of significant challenges and transitions.”

The minister’s office did not immediately respond to questions about why Joffe’s contract wasn’t extended.

Joffe served as vice-president of Alberta Health Services before being taking over for Hinshaw. He has more than two decades of public health experience in Alberta and is also a professor of medicine at the University of Alberta.

While the position is vacant — and while Alberta grapples with a growing number of measles cases — LaGrange’s office said she will rely on existing public health experts within government and Alberta Health Services.

“We want to reassure Albertans that public health continues to be a top priority during this transition,” the minister’s office said.

“Alberta’s government will continue to work closely with health partners to ensure continuity in public health leadership and responses.”

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the announcement raises questions of competence.

“The fact that the province has not even named an interim or an acting chief medical officer of health means either they weren’t expecting Dr. Joffe to step away or that they just don’t know what they’re doing,” Nenshi told reporters.

“Even if you’re not in the middle of a major (measles) outbreak, you really should have some plans in place.

“That’s just basic management.”

Alberta reported three more cases of measles Tuesday, bringing the province’s total to 77 since the beginning of March.

One of the new cases, in Calgary, prompted AHS to issue an alert Tuesday about potential exposures in the city and in the nearby towns of Banff and Canmore.

The health authority warned that residents of the two towns may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease last week as the Calgary resident had visited both while infectious.

Calls from medical experts and the Opposition NDP had been mounting over recent weeks to have Joffe address the public on the measles outbreak, but LaGrange said last week that Joffe didn’t think the situation was dire enough to warrant such a step.

He published a written statement Friday encouraging Albertans to get vaccinated and warning that measles is a much more serious disease than common childhood illnesses.

Government data shows that the majority of cases reported so far have been in children under the age of 18, including 18 cases in those under five.

The same data says that as of April 5, at least eight people have been hospitalized.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2025.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press