Born in England, Dr. Walker attended Harrow School then immigrated to Canada. He graduated MD from Queen’s in 1971 and, following postgraduate training, was awarded Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1975.
A career in academic emergency medicine at Queen’s and Kingston Health Sciences Centre led to roles as department head, associate and vice-dean. From 1999 to 2010, he was Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, director of the university’s School of Medicine and CEO of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO).
Dr. Walker has been President of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and Chair of the Council of Ontario Faculties of Medicine. He has served government (by Order in Council) as Chair of the Expert Panel on SARS and Infectious Disease Control, as inaugural Board Chair of the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario), and as an advisor to ministers of health on policy areas concerning public health and ageing, and more recently to the Auditor General of Ontario and Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission.
At Queen’s, Dr. Walker chaired the Principal’s Commission on Mental Health as well as the coordination and planning for the university’s 175th anniversary, served for three years as interim executive director of the School of Policy Studies and, most recently, was Special Advisor to Principal Patrick Deane on COVID-19.
From 2020 -2024 he chaired the Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Ontario Health Team’s Transitional Leadership Collaborative and teaches in the schools of medicine and policy studies at Queen’s.