Keynote & Plenary Speakers
Keynote Address 2
Challenges and opportunities for research and action in urban health
Ana V. Diez Roux
Dean and Distinguished University Professor of Epidemiology, Dornsife School of Public Health,
Drexel University
Biography
Dr Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH is Dean of the Dornsife School of Public Health and directs the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University. She is internationally known for her research on the social determinants of population health and the study of how neighborhoods, particularly urban neighborhoods, affect health. Her work on neighborhood health effects has been highly influential in the policy debate on population health and its determinants. The programs she has led on neighborhood health effects have spanned physical environments (including air pollution as well as built environment factors), social environments, and policy effects. She has had a particular interest in methodological aspects of special relevance to urban health research including multilevel analysis as well as the application of the tools of complex systems methodologies to urban health problems. She has led large NIH and foundation funded research and training programs in the United States and in collaboration with international partners. Most recently she convened the Network for Urban Health in Latin America and the Caribbean which focuses on promoting research, training, and policies to promote urban health throughout the region. She is Principal Investigator of the Wellcome Trust funded SALURBAL (Salud Urbana en America Latina/Urban Health in Latin America) study. Dr Diez Roux has served on numerous editorial boards, review panels and advisory committees relevant to urban health including most recently the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) of the Environmental Protection Agency (as Chair), the Committee on Health and Wellbeing in the Changing Urban Environment of the International Council for Science (ISCUS) and the NASEM Roundtable on Sustainability. She was awarded the Wade Hampton Frost Award for her contributions to public health by the American Public Health Association. She is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society, the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, and the National Academy of Medicine.