Elizabeth Vásquez
Assistant Professor
School of Public Health
Department: Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Expertise:
Epidemiology of aging; physical activity; cognitive function; disability; sedentary behavior; individual and communities social determinants of health.
Campus phone: 518-408-2362
Campus email: [email protected]
Biography:
Elizabeth Vásquez is an assistant professor at the University at Albany School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She earned her MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and her Dr.P.H. from New York Medical College, School of Public Health.
Her research interest in studying physical activity and health disparities evolved from her research experience seeing its influence on older adults diagnosed with arthritis and osteoporosis. These experiences have profoundly shaped her research questions and have shaped her passion for understanding the health of aging populations. Her professional transition to studying race and ethnic differences began with her observations that research on these populations was scant and not greatly explored.
Vásquez has a strong interest in expanding scientific knowledge of race and ethnic differences in physical activity and sedentary behavior. Her three interconnected research themes are: (1) Examining physical activity prevalence and its relationship with adverse and positive health outcomes in older adults. (2) Examining the individual-level indicators and the ecological impact of social context which contributes to differential health outcomes in older racial and ethnically diverse populations, in particular Latinos. (3) Exploring new ways to assess health behaviors among older adults of diverse ethnic background in epidemiological studies.
In addition, she is a mentee with the Program to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE). Vásquez is also an affiliated investigator with the Study of Latinos (SOL) and part of the Physical Activity Writing Group and the Aging Writing Group for this project. She is an alumna of the National Institute of Aging Butler-Williams Scholars Program.
