Adalsteinn Brown, key voice in Ontario's COVID-19 response, leaving science table

University of Toronto Professor Adalsteinn Brown, who was a fixture at Ontario's Science Advisory Table news conferences through some of the most dire months of the COVID-19 pandemic, is stepping down as one of the table's co-chairs.

In a news release issued Wednesday, the table said Brown is leaving to focus on his position as dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at U of T.

Co-chair Dr. Brian Schwartz said in a statement that over the last two years, Brown has "been at the forefront of supporting the province's response to COVID-19" by leading the development of modelling and communicating with experts and stakeholders to provide practical advice for Ontario's decision-makers.

"We want to express our sincere thanks to Prof. Adalsteinn Brown for his exceptional leadership as [one of] the inaugural co-chairs of the Science Advisory Table," Schwartz said in a statement.

Brown's replacement is Dr. Upton Allen, who is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Toronto, as well as chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Brown was became known for his frank assessments of the situation in Ontario through the pandemic — like when he said the Omicron wave would "likely be the hardest wave of the pandemic" back in December of last year, and argued for restrictions that would reduce contacts.