Dr. Natalie Bocking has been named the new Medical Officer of Health for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit.
She will assume her new position on April 5th, 2021, replacing out-going Medical Officer of Health Dr. Lynn Noseworthy.
Noseworthy was planning to retire at the end of June 2020, but those plans were delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her new retirement date is December 11, 2020. Dr. Ian Gemmill will serve as the Acting Medical Officer of Health until Bocking takes over.
Bocking is a Public Health and Preventive Medicine Specialist. She’s was also certified in 2015 by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada after finishing her specialty training at the University of Toronto. She also has a Medical Doctorate from McMaster University and a Masters in International Public Health from the University of Sydney, Australia. Bocking’s long list of accomplishments also includes supporting the development of a community-based First Nations governed Public Health system for 31 rural and remote First Nations communities.
“We are very fortunate to have Dr. Bocking join (the Health Unit),” says the Health Unit’s Chair Doug Elmslie. “She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in providing public health programs and services in rural areas of the province and has most recently worked with northern First Nations communities to provide public health services.”
Bocking has spent the last four years with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit and Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority.