Staff Profile
Liliana is a medic & population health scientistic based at the Population Health Sciences Institute. She currently works as a research associate of Latin SEQ+. This is a qualitative study which evaluates the delivery of genomic medicine for patients with muscle diseases in Latin America (Latin SEQ). Liliana combines her work in research with medical teaching at the University of Edinburgh and clinical practice as a genetics consultant (children and youth) in Colombia.
Liliana stands out for her mixed background (medicine and social sciences). This, in combination with her experience working in both Global North and Global South settings, offers her a more holistic and cross-world understanding of health, illness and disability processes.
Previous Positions (selected):
2024-2026 Principal investigator, MQ Mental Health. Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs) in Colombia: a child-centred study.
2023- 2024 Postdoctoral Researcher, NETREP (Networks of reproduction in the complex planetary future: Intimacy, companionship and family building in Finland, Portugal, and Scotland). University of Edinburgh-The Kone foundation (Finland).
2022- 2023 Research Fellow, Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia).
2022 Research Consultant, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE). 'Accessing support for disabled children, young people, and their families during COVID-19 in Scotland’
Qualifications:
2021 PhD Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, UK
2014 MSc Biological Sciences (Genetics), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia
2004 Medicine, Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia
Awards:
2024 MQ Mental Health. Postdoctoral Scholarship
2017 University of Edinburgh. Scholarship towards tuition fees
2014 Colombia Government. PhD Overseas Scholarship
Languages:
English
Spanish
Liliana is passionate about cross-world, interdisciplinary and participatory research on a range of health-related topics. She has designed, conducted, and evaluated research in the areas of sociology of health, childhood mental health, childhood disability, reproductive decision-making and genomic medicine. She hopes to mobilize evidence-based and practice-based knowledge to create sustainable policy and practice changes that allow people to have better lives.
Current Research:
Evaluating the delivery of whole exome sequencing for patients with neuromuscular diseases in Latin America: a qualitative study (Latin SEQ+)
Main Expertise:
Qualitative research
Childhood disability
Childhood and youth mental health
Positive and adverse childhood experiences
Health-related stigma
Clinical genetics
Child-centred research
Systematic reviews
Other Expertise:
Reproduction-decision making
Family studies
Genetic counselling