Promoting Health Care as a Human Right
By Robyn Fieser, as published in Capsule, Spring 2026.
From the start of her career, Danya Mazen Qato, PhD, PharmD, MPH, associate professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research (P-SHOR) at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP), has been guided by a core belief: health care is a human right.
Born in Palestine and raised between Chicago and the West Bank, Qato developed a deep understanding of how politics and social structures can improve or limit access to care. Her Doctor of Pharmacy training at the University of Illinois at Chicago, her Master of Public Health education at Harvard University, and her PhD experience at Brown University provided the academic grounding necessary to pursue innovative research that supports more equitable and expansive care for all.
It is a perspective that has informed her work as an epidemiologist, a pharmacist, a health services researcher, and a teacher. “My work as an epidemiologist and a pharmacist is rooted in advocating for more equitable and evidence-based social policies,” she says.
Qato’s research, which has been supported by major federal agencies, including the National Institute on Aging and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, spans global health, access to essential medicines, pharmacovigilance, substance use, and mitigating harm associated with high-risk medications in vulnerable populations. According to Qato, there is a connecting thread — people’s health is shaped not just by clinical care, but also by the conditions of their daily lives and the systems that surround them.
Whether examining opioid use disorder or global medicine access, Qato centers the whole person and the systems shaping their well-being. Her work shows that narrow notions of “treatment” and “access” often overlook essential supports such as housing, mental health care, and strong social safety nets. Her research reveals how structural barriers — from provider stigma to persistent racial, economic, and policy-driven inequities — limit effective care and compound vulnerabilities, especially for older adults. This structural lens and historical awareness define her scholarship and contributed to her selection as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader in 2020.
This blend of rigorous scholarship and human empathy also defines her teaching. Qato encourages UMSOP students to see themselves as active agents in improving care. “I am a naturally curious person,” she says. “I’m grateful to be surrounded by engaging students who challenge me and deepen that curiosity.”
As director of the Pharmaceutical Health Services Research graduate program from 2018 to 2023, Qato advocated to raise PhD student stipends and expand student participation in P-SHOR governance. She also launched the program’s first Health Equity Book Club, a three-year series that helped P-SHOR deepen its understanding of its role in advancing health equity. The series included The Black Butterfly by Baltimore scholar Lawrence Brown, PhD, MPA, who visited the department to discuss the city’s history and its impact on health.
Qato’s teaching excellence has been recognized with the 2023 University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology Faculty Teaching Award for her Principles of Epidemiology course and the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) 2024 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Diversity Recognition Award for Outstanding Faculty.
In 2025, she was one of three faculty selected by University leadership to deliver remarks at UMB’s Faculty Convocation and she serves as faculty advisor for the student chapter of the Maryland Public Health Association.
A former Fulbright Scholar, Qato’s research is global as well. Through the Alicia and Yaya Initiative in Global Aging Research, she met with older adults and centenarians in Costa Rica to understand what contributes to long and meaningful lives. “The resounding answer was family and community,” she says. It is a reminder that well-being is shaped largely by life outside the hospital.
Qato has published and presented widely at national and international conferences and is a sought-after speaker on topics ranging from epidemiologic methods of studying opioid use disorder to optimizing care for older adults and decolonizing global health.
Whether in Baltimore, Palestine, Costa Rica, or beyond, her work reflects an unwavering commitment to dignity, equity, and the core belief that access to quality health care is a fundamental human right.