Liliana Aguayo
Asst Professor
Research Assistant Professor
Faculty, Global Health
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Liliana is a community health researcher 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 factors associated with disparities in obesity and cardiovascular health among racial/ethnically diverse children and adolescents.
She 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 uses qualitative and quantitative methods and has experience in data collection with pediatric and adult samples, community health, and bilingual survey research development.
Liliana has been awarded a Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research from NIDDK and is currently adding her expertise to the project "Dynamics and Health Consequences of Obesity between Infancy and Young Adulthood in the United States".
Areas of Interest
- Adolescent Health/Child Health
- Cardiovascular Diseases
- Diabetes
- Obesity Prevention
- Social Epidemiology
- Spatial Analysis/GIS
Education
- BA 2005, Loyola University Chicago
- BA 2005, Loyola University Chicago
- PhD 2018, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- MPH 2018, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaig
Affiliations & Activities
American Heart Association (AHA): Member of the Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Early Career Council (April 2018- Present)
American Society for Nutrition (ASN): Nominations Chair, Early Career Nutrition (ECN) Interest Group (2020-2022)
Elected Secretary, ASN Student Interest Group (SIG) Committee (2017-2020)
Academic Pediatric Association (APA): Member (2018-Present)
The Obesity Society (TOS): Member (2014 -Present)
Publications
- Heard-Garris N., Davis, M., Estabrook R., Burns J., Briggs-Gowan M., Allen N., Carnethon M., Aguayo L., Wakschlag L., Penedo F. , 2020, Adverse childhood experiences and biomarkers of inflammation in a diverse cohort of early school-aged children, Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health, 1, 100006
- Aguayo L., Hernandez I., Yasui M., Estabrook R., Anderson EL., Davis MM., Briggs-Gowan MJ., Wakschlag L., Heard-Garris N., 2020, Cultural Socialization in Childhood: Analysis of Parent–Child Conversations with a Direct Observation Measure, Journal of Family Psychology, ,
- Cuevas, C., Herrera P., Morales G., Aguayo L., Galvez P.E., 2020, Understanding the Food - Family Relationship: A qualitative research in a Chilean low socioeconomic context, Appetite, 156, 104852
- Jansen T., Aguayo L., Bobbit J., Payne L., Schwingel A., 2019, Diabetes Disparities across Illinois. GIS Snapshots, Preventing Chronic Disease, 16, 180154
- Bobbitt J., Aguayo L., Payne L., Jansen T., Schwingel A., 2019, Going the 'extra mile' for disease prevention: Geographical and social factors associated with chronic disease self-management program participation., Preventing Chronic Disease, 16, E25
- Aguayo L., Khan M., De Leon R., Schwingel A. , 2019, Use of Geographic Information Systems in Physical Activity Interventions: A Systematic Review, Progress in Preventive Medicine, 4, Progress in Preventive Medicine
- Aguayo L., Olave-Pichon A., Ariza A. J., & Binns H. J. , 2017, Characteristics of Very Young Hispanic Children Referred for Obesity Management, Global Pediatric Health, 16, E25
- Schwingel A., Linares D.E., Gálvez P., Adamson B., Aguayo L., Bobbit J., Castañeda Y., Sebastião E., and Marquez D.X. , 2015, Developing a Culturally Sensitive Lifestyle Behavior Change Program for Older Latinas, Qualitative Health Research, 25, 1733-46