Director of the Office of Public Health Ethics and Regulations

Staff Bio

Maryam Daneshvar, PhD, MS

Maryam Daneshvar, PhD, MS, is the Director of the Office of Public Health Ethics and Regulations (OPHER) in CDC’s Office of Science.

OPHER Director

Role at CDC

Dr. Daneshvar is responsible for planning, managing, and evaluating the programs within OPHER. She works to ensure CDC science and research activities comply with scientific regulatory and ethical practices.

Previous experience

Dr. Daneshvar joined CDC in 1982 as a research chemist in the National Center for Infectious Diseases. In addition to this, Dr. Daneshvar also previously held key leadership positions including Associate Director for Science of the Division of Laboratory Programs, Standards, and Services in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (now part of the CDC’s Office of Laboratory Science and Safety), CDC Reports Clearance Officer, and Chief of the Information Collection Review Office in the Office of Science.

Achievements

Over her 24-year tenure as a laboratory scientist, Dr. Daneshvar specialized in advanced techniques for the identification of unusual and emerging bacterial pathogens.

She has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications, including peer-reviewed scientific papers, CDC publications, a book, book chapters, and scientific meeting abstracts.

She has earned multiple CDC awards and the HHS Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service. She has also received one of the most distinguished honors in the community of microbiologists—having an organism named in her honor. Kaistella daneshvariae, a novel bacterial organism, was named in honor of her many contributions to the description and characterization of strains from CDC's collection of clinical bacterial isolates.

Education

Dr. Daneshvar holds a doctorate in analytical chemistry and a Master of Science in clinical chemistry from Georgia State University. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of Georgia.