André Picard

André Picard has covered numerous infectious disease outbreaks over more than three decades, including HIV-AIDS, SARS, MERS, H1N1 Influenza, and Ebola. In January 2020, he was one of the first reporters to write about the novel coronavirus and risks it posed to Canada, and has covered the pandemic continuously throughout the crisis. André Picard is a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation’s COVID-19 Impact Committee.

André Picard is one of Canada's top health and public policy observers and commentators. Currently the health columnist at The Globe and Mail, he has been a staff writer for over 30 years. Picard is also the author of five books and has received acclaim for his writing and for his dedication to improving health care. In 2010, he was awarded a National Newspaper Award as Canada's top newspaper columnist.

He is the author of five books, including the bestsellers Matters of Life and Death: Public Health Issues in Canada, Critical Care: Canadian Nurses Speak for Change and The Gift of Death: Confronting Canada's Tainted Blood Tragedy. He is also the author of A Call to Alms: The New Face of Charity in Canada and The Path to Health Care Reform: Policy and Politics.

André Picard has received much acclaim for his writing, including the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service Journalism, the Canadian Policy Research Award, and the Atkinson Fellowship for Public Policy Research. He is an eight-time finalist for the National Newspaper Awards, Canada's top journalism prize, and was recognized as the country's top newspaper columnist in 2010\. In 2002, Picard received the Centennial Prize of the Pan-American Health Organization as the top public health reporter in the Americas. In 2005, he was named Canada's first Public Health Hero by the Canadian Public Health Association, and in 2007 he was honoured as a Champion of Mental Health. In 2011 he received the Hyman Solomon Award for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism. 

André Picard has been the recipient of the Canadian Nurses' Association Award of Excellence for Health Care Reporting, the Nursing in the Media Award of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, the International Media Prize of Sigma Theta Tau (Nursing Honor Society), and the Science and Society Book Prize. His advocacy work has been honoured by a number of consumer health groups, including Safe Kids Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness, and the Canadian Hearing Society.

He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa (bachelor's of commerce) and Carleton University (bachelor's of journalism) and has received honorary doctorates from six universities: Carleton University, Laurentian University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Manitoba, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and the University of Toronto. He lives in Montréal.