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Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH

Ana Diez Roux

Distinguished University Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Urban Health Collaborative
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Urban Health Collaborative
267.359.6070
avd37@drexel.edu
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Degrees

MD, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
PhD, Department of Health Policy and Management, The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
MPH, The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

Bio

Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PHD, MPH, is a Distinguished University Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative. Dr. Diez Roux was Dean of the Dornsife School of Public Health from 2013-2023.

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.

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 epidemiology and health disparities, environmental health effects, urban health, psychosocial factors, cardiovascular disease epidemiology, social environment-gene interactions, and the use of multilevel methods and complex systems approaches in population health. She has led large NIH and foundation funded research and training programs in the United States and in collaboration with various institutions in Latin America. She is currently Principal Investigator of the Wellcome Trust funded SALURBAL (Salud Urbana en América Latina) study and the co-Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Drexel FIRST initiative..

Dr. Diez Roux has served on numerous editorial boards, review panels and advisory committees including most recently the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) of the Environmental Protection Agency (as Chair), the Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) of the National Center for Health Statistics, the Committee on Health and Wellbeing in the Changing Urban Environment of the International Council for Science (ISCUS), and CDCs Community Preventive Services Taskforce.

She has received the Wade Hampton Frost Award for her contributions to public health from the American Public Health Association and the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Epidemiology from the American College of Epidemiology. She is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2009. Dr. Diez Roux has been an active mentor of doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty from diverse backgrounds.

Research Interests

  • Social determinants of health
  • Neighborhoods and health
  • Race and ethnic health disparities
  • Psychosocial factors and cardiovascular disease
  • Air pollution epidemiology
  • Urban health
  • Multilevel methods
  • Complex systems approaches to population health
  • Health in Latin America

Publications

Select Publications:

Climate Trends and Consumption of Foods and Beverages by Processing Level in Mexican Cities. López-Olmedo N, Diez-Roux AV, Pérez-Ferrer C, Prado-Galbarro FJ, Riojas-Rodríguez H, Rivera-Dommarco J, Barrientos-Gutierrez T. Front Nutr. 2021 Jul 21;8:647497. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.647497. eCollection 2021.

Spatial Inequities in COVID-19 Testing, Positivity, Confirmed Cases, and Mortality in 3 U.S. Cities : An Ecological Study. Bilal U, Tabb LP, Barber S, Diez Roux AV. Ann Intern Med. 2021 Jul;174(7):936-944. doi: 10.7326/M20-3936. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Life expectancy and mortality in 363 cities of Latin America. Bilal U, Hessel P, Perez-Ferrer C, Michael YL, Alfaro T, Tenorio-Mucha J, Friche AAL, Pina MF, Vives A, Quick H, Alazraqui M, Rodriguez DA, Miranda JJ, Diez-Roux AV; SALURBAL group. Nat Med. 2021 Mar;27(3):463-470. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-01214-4. Epub 2021 Jan 25.

Population Health in the Time of COVID-19: Confirmations and Revelations. Diez Roux AV. Milbank Q. 2020 Sep;98(3):629-640. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12474. Epub 2020 Aug 18.

Primary Care Accessibility Effects on Health Care Utilization Among Urban Children. Mudd AE, Michael YL, Diez-Roux AV, Maltenfort M, Moore K, Melly S, Lê-Scherban F, Forrest CB. Acad Pediatr. 2020 Aug;20(6):871-878. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2020.05.014. Epub 2020 May 31.

Social regulation of inflammation related gene expression in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Brown KM, Diez-Roux AV, Smith JA, Needham BL, Mukherjee B, Ware EB, Liu Y, Cole SW, Seeman TE, Kardia SLR. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2020 Jul;117:104654. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104654. Epub 2020 May 7.

25 Years: Exploring the Health and Human Rights Journey. Williams C, Amon JJ, Bassett MT, Diez Roux AV, Farmer PE. Health Hum Rights. 2019 Dec;21(2):279-282.

Using community-based system dynamics modeling to understand the complex systems that influence health in cities: The SALURBAL study. Langellier BA, Kuhlberg JA, Ballard EA, Slesinski SC, Stankov I, Gouveia N, Meisel JD, Kroker-Lobos MF, Sarmiento OL, Caiaffa WT, Diez Roux AV; SALURBAL Group. Health Place. 2019 Nov;60:102215. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102215. Epub 2019 Oct 3.

Neighborhood environments and risk of incident atrial fibrillation: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Garg PK, Jorgensen N, Diez-Roux AV, O'Neal W, Mujahid M, Moore K, Soliman EZ, Heckbert SR. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2020 Dec;27(19):2116-2118. doi: 10.1177/2047487319866020. Epub 2019 Jul 26.

Age-friendly cities: challenges for future research. Noordzij JM, Beenackers MA, Diez Roux AV, van Lenthe FJ. Bull World Health Organ. 2019 Jun 1;97(6):436-437. doi: 10.2471/BLT.18.224865. Epub 2019 May 14.

Expression of socially sensitive genes: The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Brown KM, Diez-Roux AV, Smith JA, Needham BL, Mukherjee B, Ware EB, Liu Y, Cole SW, Seeman TE, Kardia SLR. PLoS One. 2019 Apr 11;14(4):e0214061. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214061. eCollection 2019.

The Unique Space of Epidemiology: Drawing on the Past to Project Into the Future. Diez Roux AV. Am J Epidemiol. 2019 May 1;188(5):886-889. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwz001.

Methodological Approaches to Understanding Causes of Health Disparities. Jeffries N, Zaslavsky AM, Diez Roux AV, Creswell JW, Palmer RC, Gregorich SE, Reschovsky JD, Graubard BI, Choi K, Pfeiffer RM, Zhang X, Breen N. Am J Public Health. 2019 Jan;109(S1):S28-S33. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304843.

Neighborhood racial/ethnic segregation and BMI: A longitudinal analysis of the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Do DP, Moore K, Barber S, Diez Roux A. Int J Obes (Lond). 2019 Aug;43(8):1601-1610. doi: 10.1038/s41366-019-0322-3. Epub 2019 Jan 22.

Building a Data Platform for Cross-Country Urban Health Studies: the SALURBAL Study. Quistberg DA, Diez Roux AV, Bilal U, Moore K, Ortigoza A, Rodriguez DA, Sarmiento OL, Frenz P, Friche AA, Caiaffa WT, Vives A, Miranda JJ; SALURBAL Group. J Urban Health. 2019 Apr;96(2):311-337. doi: 10.1007/s11524-018-00326-0.

Exploring the emergence and evolution of population patterns of leisure-time physical activity through agent-based modelling. Garcia LMT, Diez Roux AV, Martins ACR, Yang Y, Florindo AA. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2018 Nov 19;15(1):112. doi: 10.1186/s12966-018-0750-9.

Climate change, urban health, and the promotion of health equity. Fagliano JA, Diez Roux AV. PLoS Med. 2018 Jul 24;15(7):e1002621. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002621. eCollection 2018 Jul.

Neighborhood Environments and Diabetes Risk and Control. Bilal U, Auchincloss AH, Diez-Roux AV. Curr Diab Rep. 2018 Jul 11;18(9):62. doi: 10.1007/s11892-018-1032-2.

Individual and food environmental factors: association with diet. Menezes MC, Diez Roux AV, Costa BVL, Lopes ACS. Public Health Nutr. 2018 Oct;21(15):2782-2792. doi: 10.1017/S1368980018001623. Epub 2018 Jul 6.

A Novel International Partnership for Actionable Evidence on Urban Health in Latin America: LAC-Urban Health and SALURBAL. Diez Roux AV, Slesinski SC, Alazraqui M, Caiaffa WT, Frenz P, Jordán Fuchs R, Miranda JJ, Rodriguez DA, Dueñas OLS, Siri J, Vergara AV. Glob Chall. 2018 Jun 19;3(4):1800013. doi: 10.1002/gch2.201800013. eCollection 2019 Apr.

Troubling Trends in Health Disparities. Bilal U, Diez-Roux AV. N Engl J Med. 2018 Apr 19;378(16):1557-1558. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1800328.

Schinasi LH, Auchincloss AH, Forrest CB, Diez Roux AV. Using electronic health record data for environmental and place based population health research: a systematic review. Ann Epidemiol. 2018 Mar; PMID: 29628285

Yang Y, Langellier BA, Stankov I, Purtle J, Nelson KL, Diez Roux AV. Examining the possible impact of daily transport on depression among older adults using an agent-based model. Aging Ment Health. 2018 Mar; PMID: 59543502

Tabb LP, McClure LA, Quick H, Purtle J, Diez Roux AV. Assessing the spatial heterogeneity in overall health across the United States using spatial regression methods: The contribution of health factors and county-level demographics. Health Place. 2018 Mar; PMID: 29549756

Purtle J, Henson RM, Carroll-Scott A, Kolker J, Joshi R, Diez Roux AV. US Mayors' and Health Commissioners' Opinions About Health Disparities in Their Cities. AM J Public Health. 2018; PMID 29565663

Diez Roux AV. Despair as a Cause of Death: More Complex Than It First Appears. Am J Public Health. 2017; PMID 28902522

Kershaw KN, Osypuk TL, Do DP, De Chavez PJ, Diez Roux AV. Neighborhood-Level Racial/Ethnic Residential Segregation and Incident Cardiovascular Disease: The Multi Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Circulation. 2015 Jan 13;131(2):141-8. PMID: 25447044. PMCID: PMC4293329.

Diez Roux AV. Invited Commentary: The virtual epidemiologist-promise and peril. Am J Epidemiol.2015 Jan 15;181(2):100-2. PMID: 25480822.

Diez Roux AV. Conceptual approaches to the study of health disparities. Ann Rev Public Health. 2012; 33:41-58. PMID: 22224879. PMCID: PMC3740124.

Diez Roux AV. Complex systems thinking and current impasses in health disparities research. Am J Public Health. 2011. Sep;101(9):1627-1634. PMID: 21778505. PMCID: PMC3154209.

Diez Roux AV, Mair C. Neighborhoods and health. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 Feb;1186:125-145. PMID: 20201871. 

Auchincloss AH, Diez Roux AV, Mujahid MS, Shen M, Bertoni AG, Carnethon MR. Neighborhood resources for physical activity and healthy foods and incidence of type 2 diabetes (the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis). Arch Int Med. 2009;12;169 (18)1698-704. PMID: 19822827. PMCID: PMC2800303. 

Auchincloss AH, Diez Roux AV. A new tool for epidemiology? The usefulness of dynamic agent models in understanding place effects on health. Am J Epidemiol, 2008;168(1):1-8.

Diez Roux AV. Multilevel analysis in public health research. Annu Rev Public Health.  2000; 21:171-92. 

Diez Roux AV. Bringing context back into epidemiology: variables and fallacies in multilevel analysis. Am J Pub Health 1998; 88:216-222.

For a complete listing, please visit PubMed.