André Picard

André Picard is the public health reporter at The Globe and Mail and one of Canada's top public policy writers.

He is the author of the best-selling books 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. André 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. In 2002, he received the Centennial Prize of the Pan-American Health Organization as the top public health reporter in the Americas. In 2005, the Canadian Public Health Association named him Canada’s first Public Health Hero.

He is also a four-time finalist for the National Newspaper Awards – Canada’s Pulitzer Prize. André 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 the Safe Kids Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and the Canadian Hearing Society. André has also participated in a number of academic endeavours, notably as a participant in the Governor-General's Canadian Leadership Conference and as a guest lecturer at a number of universities.

In addition to his writing and speaking, André has participated in a number of professional organizations and non-profit groups. He is a former member of the advisory committees of the Canadian Institute for Child Health, Active Healthy Kids Canada, Centraide/United Way Montréal, and the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

He lives in Montreal.