USC Mann, March 22, 2023
Funding will support research to advance policies within Medicare Part D to prevent pharmacy closures and advance equitable access to medicines.
Dima M. Qato, associate professor of pharmacy at the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director of the Program on Medicines and Public Health, was awarded a four-year, $1,650,000 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for her project “Structural Racism in Medicare Part D, Pharmacy Closures and Disparities in Medication Adherence in Older Adults.”
Qato’s pioneering work on the impact of structural racism on pharmacy closures and access to medicines aims to advance equitable, and eliminate discriminatory, policies within Medicare Part D and resolve persistent disparities in pharmacy access and adherence among chronically ill older adults.
“Pharmacy closures may be an overlooked community-level mechanism of structural racism that exacerbates the adverse consequences of segregation on disparities in pharmacy access and medication adherence,” said Qato, who serves as the Hygeia Centennial Chair at the USC Mann School and is a senior fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. Qato holds a joint appointment with the USC Spatial Sciences Insitute at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.