Danielle Martin

Biography

Danielle Martin is the Liberal Member of Parliament for University—Rosedale in Toronto. A family physician, academic and health care leader, she brings decades of experience in medicine and health policy to her work in the House of Commons.

Danielle was born in November 1975 to D’Arcy Martin, a union activist, and Anita Shilton, a dean of continuing education at Ryerson University. Her family’s history, including the financial hardship her mother’s family faced after a heart attack in the years before medicare, has shaped her lifelong commitment to universal health care.

Danielle completed her bachelor’s degree at McGill University in 1998 and worked as an assistant to Gerard Kennedy, then the Liberal health critic. She earned her medical degree from the University of Western Ontario in 2003 and also holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

Danielle became a family physician in 2005 and practised in Northern Ontario for six years. She went on to serve as executive vice president at Women’s College Hospital, where she co-founded the Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care and practised in the hospital’s Family Practice Health Centre. At the University of Toronto, she has held faculty appointments in family and community medicine, health policy and public policy, and since 2021 has served as Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine. In 2006 she helped found Canadian Doctors for Medicare, chairing its board until 2013, and in 2014 she testified before a United States Senate committee on health care systems. Her work has been recognized with the Canadian Medical Association’s Award for Young Leaders and, in 2019, the F.N.G. Starr Award, of which she was the youngest physician recipient.

In January 2026, Danielle was nominated as the Liberal candidate in University—Rosedale following the resignation of Chrystia Freeland. She won the by-election on April 13, 2026, and now represents the riding in Ottawa, where she continues to champion accessible, high-quality public health care.

Danielle and her partner, Steven Barrett, have one child.