Staff Bio
Maryam Daneshvar, PhD, MS
Director of the Office of Public Health Ethics and Regulations (OPHER) in the Office of Science.
CDC role
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 previously served as Associate Director for Science of the Division of Laboratory Programs, Standards, and Services in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services. She has held other key leadership positions including CDC Reports Clearance Officer and Chief of the Information Collection Review Office in the Office of Science.
Dr. Daneshvar joined CDC in 1982 as a research chemist in the National Center for Infectious Diseases. Over her 24-year tenure as a laboratory scientist, Dr. Daneshvar continued to specialize in advanced techniques for the identification of unusual and emerging bacterial pathogens. She authored or coauthored more than 100 publications including peer-reviewed scientific papers, CDC publications, book, book chapters, and scientific meeting abstracts.
Dr. Daneshvar has received 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 Maryam Daneshvar for her many contributions to the description and characterization of strains from CDC's collection of clinical bacterial isolates.