Dr. Donya Razavi (she/her) is a Sessional Assistant Professor in the School of Global Health with over 15 years of experience in global health, health policy, and health systems research. Her work focuses on advancing health equity and improving health care access and outcomes for equity-deserving populations.
She has conducted research on a broad range of topics, including health sector priority setting and resource allocation, community and stakeholder engagement in health system decision-making, primary health care and interprofessional collaboration, humanitarian health, and sexual and reproductive health.
Donya is passionate about bridging global health concepts with local health challenges. She brings her extensive practical experience into both the classroom and her research, drawing on her work within academia, NGOs, the Ontario health sector and communities to inform evidence-based teaching and policy-relevant research.
She has worked within Ontario’s health system, including with Ontario Health Teams, where her focus was on improving access to primary care for populations historically facing barriers—particularly Black and Indigenous communities, as well as individuals experiencing housing precarity, those identifying as 2SLGBTQ+, refugees, and people who use substances. She also led a newcomer engagement initiative exploring the experiences of recent immigrants with Ontario’s primary health care system, identifying barriers to access, and developing strategies to improve service delivery and support.
Internationally, Donya has worked with the Canadian Red Cross, supporting domestic and global programs, with a particular focus on menstrual hygiene management in humanitarian contexts such as South Sudan.
Donya holds a PhD in Health Policy from McMaster University, where her research examined public and vulnerable populations’ participation in health system priority setting in Uganda.
Research Keywords
global health; health equity; priority setting; health policy; marginalized populations
Themes | Global Health & Humanitarianism |
Status | Active |
Related Work |
N/A
|
Updates |
You may also be interested in...
Using the Safe Water Optimization Tool (SWOT) to support WASH Standard 2.2
Originally published on Sphere (24 April 2026) Authored by Dahdaleh Research Associate James Brown Providing safe drinking water is a core priority in humanitarian response. Sphere Water Supply Standard 2.2: Water quality (“WASH Standard 2.2”) states that ...Read more about this Post
Recap – Health Disparities Across Gender and Life Stages in India
On May 8, 2024, Dahdaleh community scholar Dr. Rajnish Ranjan Prasad presented an in-depth analysis of gender health inequities in India and its root causes. He began with an overview of gender health disparities that ...Read more about this Post
Recap — Connecting Our Work to Movements for Social Justice: Critical Perspectives in Global Health Symposium
How should global health researchers understand the world, define their values, and act collectively in the face of profound inequity? These were amongst the questions that framed this year’s Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global ...Read more about this Post