Dima M. Qato, Pharm.D., Ph.D. is a pharmacist and pharmacoepidemiologist and is currently at the University of South California as the Hygeia Centennial Chair and Associate Professor in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the Alfred Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director of the Program on Medicines and Public Health. She has also been appointed as a Senior Scholar with the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. She also served as a National Academy of Medicine Pharmacy Fellow for 2018-2020. Dr. Qato received her PharmD from UIC, an MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Illinois School of Public Health.  

Dr. Qato utilizes population-based methods to better understand the underlying mechanisms responsible for the use, underuse and unsafe use of medications, how these patterns may influence health outcomes and health disparities, and what can be done from a community and policy perspective to address these growing public health problems.

Dr. Qato’s research focusing on access and unsafe use of medications has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including JAMA and Health Affairs. Her studies on Pharmacy Deserts and pharmacy closures have  contributed important insights to policy makers on the role of pharmacies in public health and health disparities. Her work on polypharmacy, including drug-drug interactions, in the elderly was awarded the 2017 American Society of Health  System Pharmacists (ASHP) Literature Award in Drug Therapy Research. Dr. Qato’s  research has received widespread media coverage including in The New York Times, NPR, PBS News, Washington Post, The Atlantic, CNN, BBC, and National Geographic and is funded by various agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Foundation for opioid Response Efforts and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and has also influenced local and national policy around medication access and safety. 

Dr. Qato’s goal is to promote public accountability to better ensure access to, and safe use of, medications at the national, state and local levels. In an effort to achieve this goal, Dr. Qato is interested in incorporating the concept of ‘essential medicines’ in payment and regulatory decision-making in ongoing health care reform.

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