Robert S. Gordon, Jr. Lecture in Epidemiology

Research Focus

Dr. Diez Roux is internationally known for her research on the social determinants of population health and the study of how neighborhoods affect health. Her work on neighborhood health effects has been highly influential in the policy debate on population health and its determinants. Her research areas include social determinants and health disparities, environmental health, urban health, psychosocial factors in health, cardiovascular disease epidemiology, and the use of multilevel methods. 

Recent areas of work include social environment-gene interactions and the use of complex systems approaches in population health. Dr. Diez Roux has led large NIH- and foundation-funded research and training programs in the United States and in collaboration with various institutions in Latin America, and has been Principal Investigator of grants totaling over $30 million. She currently serves as Principal Investigator of the SALURBAL (Urban Health in Latin America) project, an international research network on urbanization and health funded by the Wellcome Trust. She has been a member of the MacArthur Network on Socioeconomic Factors and Health and was Co-Director of the Network on Inequality, Complexity, and Health. Dr. Diez Roux received the Wade Hampton Frost Award for her contributions to public health by the American Public Health Association and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. She has been an active mentor of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty.

About Dr. Diez Roux

Dr. Diez Roux is Dean and Distinguished University Professor of Epidemiology in the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. Originally trained as a pediatrician in her native Buenos Aires, she completed public health training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. 

Before joining Drexel University, she served on the faculties of Columbia University and the University of Michigan, where she was Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Dr. Diez Roux has served on numerous editorial boards, review panels, and advisory committees, including most recently the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Center for Health Statistics, the Committee on Health and Wellbeing in the Changing Urban Environment of the International Council for Science, and the Editorial Board of the Annual Review of Public Health.

About the Gordon Lecture

The Gordon Lecture is part of the NIH's Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series (WALS), whose goal is to keep NIH researchers abreast of the latest and most important research in the United States.

The Gordon Lecture was established in 1995 in tribute to Dr. Gordon for his outstanding contributions to the field of epidemiology and for his distinguished service to the National Institutes of Health.