Lydia is a global public health epidemiologist, community engagement specialist, and program manager. She previously served as the program manager for Eastern Virginia Medical School Global Health and as a researcher at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center at Old Dominion University. She has more than 6 years of experience managing institution and grant-funded projects, key systems and logistics, and building collaborative partnerships. She has worked as a public health practitioner throughout the Americas, North Africa, and Southwest Asia.

Lydia lives in Virginia, where she serves on the Virginia Community Capacity Initiative (VCCI), with the Virginia Consortium for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies (VCRMDS), and on the Committee for Virtual Reality Curricula Development at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD).

Lydia holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology, a Bachelor of Science in Biology, and is pursuing her Ph.D. in International Studies with concentrations in Modeling and Simulation and International Cultural Studies. Her research focuses on the intersections of health, equity, and migration. She has a special interest in community-based participatory modeling for equity-oriented research, for which she has won grant funding. She works on every project with the goal of pursuing equity through evidence- and community-based practice.

Lydia speaks English, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

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