BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Dima M. Qato, Pharm.D., MPH, Ph.D.

 

Dima M. Qato, PharmD, MPH, PhD is a clinical pharmacist and has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy (UIC COP).  She will also hold an appointment in the Department of  Pharmacy Practice and will be an affiliate faculty member in the Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics Research within the COP.  Prior to joining the UIC COP faculty, Dr. Qato was a Research Associate at the University of Chicago where she led several high profile projects related to medication use in older adults and minorities.  Dr. Qato’s primary research interests are aimed at improving access to, and use of, medications in vulnerable populations in the United States and abroad. Dr. Qato utilizes population-based methods to understand patterns and determinants of medication use, with a particular emphasis on aging, drug safety and disparities.

 

Dr. Qato is nationally recognized for her work on the unsafe use of prescription and non-prescription medications, including dietary supplements, in older adults in the United States. In 2008, this research was published in  JAMA  and received national and international media coverage. In addition, her work on disparities in the underuse of prescription medications published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety has increased our understanding of the potential role of medications in health care disparities.  Dr. Qato is also interested in effecting scholarship/research to better understand the impact of pharmaceutical policy, drug development and models of pharmaceutical care on patterns of medication use.

 

 Dr. Qato has practiced community pharmacy in various settings and also served as a consultant for IMS health, an international pharmaceutical consulting firm, and for NORC at the University of Chicago. In 2001, she was the recipient of the Schweitzer fellowship and in 2002 she was granted the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study impediments to the appropriate use of medicines in Amman, Jordan. Dr. Qato earned her Pharm.D. from the UIC COP, her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her PhD in Public Health (Pharmacoepidemiology and Health Services Research) from the UIC School of Public Health.

 

            Dr. Qato’s unique academic and professional experience has enabled an interdisciplinary perspective that will continue to guide her research and clinical pharmacy practice. Her current research program seeks to examine the underlying mechanisms responsible for the underuse, overuse and inappropriate use of medications, how these patterns may influence health outcomes and health disparities, and what can be performed from a clinical (role of pharmacist and physician) and policy perspective to address these escalating problems to improve the quality of health care and population health.  Dr. Qato’s goal is to create a research program that will identify why medications are used, or not used, and how they can and should be used in the population to promote equity, longevity and good health.