Liliana  Aguayo-Markes

Liliana is a community health researcher committed to the prevention of disparities in cardiovascular diseases. She is investigating the early life origins of racial and ethnic disparities in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Her research uses an intersectionality framework to investigate overlapping social determinants associated with disparities in obesity and cardiovascular health among racial/ethnically diverse children and adolescents.

Doctor Aguayo completed the Master of Public Health/Doctor of Philosophy in Community Health (MPH/ PhD) dual degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a fellow of the USDA Illinois Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Program (I-TOPP). Upon completion of her graduate training, she completed postdoctoral training in cardiovascular epidemiology as a fellow of the American Heart Association (AHA) at Northwestern University and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. She is an experienced qualitative and quantitative researcher with training in both and mixed methods research; and has extensive skills in bilingual survey research with over 6 years of experience carrying out primary data collection with Mexican and Latinx populations in Mexico and the US.

Liliana's research of the origins of disparities in obesity, and cardiovascular disease is funded by a Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research from NIDDK, a Career Development Award from the AHA and the Pediatric and Reproductive Environmental Health Scholars-Southeastern Environmental Exposures and Disparities mentored career development program  (K12 PREHS-SEED) from the NIEHS. She is also the receipient of awards from the Rollins School of Public Health Dean’s Pilot and Innovation Grant and the NIH-funded Emory Specialized Center of Research Excellence in Sex Differences (SCORE).