Biography

Denise MacGillivray is the Director General for the Environmental Health and Pesticides Directorate within Health Canada’s Regulatory Operations and Enforcement Branch (ROEB).   She is also the Health Canada Regional Executive Lead for the BC Region, and is based out of Vancouver, BC.

From 2016 to 2019, Denise was the Director of the Bureau of Microbial Hazards at Health Canada’s Food Directorate.  In this capacity, she supported evaluation and research programs related to bacterial, parasitic, viral and prion disease agents in foods and collaborated closely with federal and provincial partners in food safety investigations and foodborne outbreak management.  She also served as head of the Canadian delegation to the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Hygiene. 

Denise has spent the majority of her public service career working in the scientific and regulatory fields of Health Canada, beginning her career as a scientific evaluator and Section Head at the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA).

Between 2009 and 2016, Denise held various management positions of increasing responsibility within Health Canada, including the Food Directorate’s Bureau of Policy, Intergovernmental and International Affairs and Bureau of Business Systems and Operations, as well as the Corporate Services Branch’s Assistant Deputy Minister’s Office and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s Registration Directorate, Re-Evaluation Directorate and Health Evaluation Directorate.

Prior to joining Health Canada in 2004, Denise worked as a research associate and project manager in a biopharmaceutical company in Vancouver, BC.

Denise holds a Bachelor of Science (Biomedical Toxicology) from the University of Guelph and a Masters of Science (Pharmacology and Therapeutics) from the University of British Columbia. 

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