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2015 Humanitarian Award
Isabella A. Danel, MD ’77
Dr. Danel is the deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional
Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization. She has spent much of her career
working to improve the health of women and children here in the United States and in
developing countries. Dr. Danel’s efforts have been principally focused on maternal health and
the reduction of maternal and perinatal mortality. Her important work has contributed to improve
monitoring, analysis and response to maternal deaths, and has been instrumental in saving
women’s and infants’ lives, most recently in Uganda and Zambia.
Upon graduating from Albany Medical College, Dr. Danel completed a residency in internal
medicine and a fellowship in medical complications during pregnancy, and began her career as
an attending physician at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. In 1985, she moved to Estelí,
Nicaragua, where she was a medical consultant and instructor at the Estelí Regional Hospital,
and Technical Advisor on tuberculosis control to the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health.
Subsequently, she received a Master’s Degree in Community Health in Developing Countries
from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 1992, she was appointed a
clinical research fellow in the Maternal and Child Epidemiology Unit at the LSHTM, London,
United Kingdom.
In 1993, Dr. Danel joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she
served in various positions in research and epidemiology, including the position of epidemic
intelligence service officer in the Behavioral Epidemiology and Demographic Research Branch;
preventive medicine resident at CDC’s WHO Collaborating Center in Perinatal Care and Health
Services; chief of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Epidemiology Unit; deputy chief of the
Pregnancy and Infant Health Branch, Division of Reproductive Health (DRH); a secondment to
the World Bank as senior public health advisor in the Health Unit of the Latin America and
Caribbean Regional Office; director of CDC’s Regional Office for Central America, stationed in
Guatemala; associate director for program development, Center for Global Health; and chief,
Field Support Branch, DRH.
Dr. Danel has written numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on maternal mortality and
other public health subjects. She is committed to PAHO’s mission to work with Member States
to promote equity in health and improve the quality of life for the people in the Americas.
The Humanitarian Award was created was created in 1995 to recognize alumni of Albany
Medical College who excel, beyond daily practice, in serving mankind.