Lihua Liu

Lihua Liu serves as Associate Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California's Department of Preventive Medicine. She directs the Surveillance Epidemiology End Results (SEER) Program, managing population-based cancer registry data for Los Angeles County.

Her educational background includes a Ph.D. in Demography and Medical Sociology from the University of Southern California. Prior to her faculty appointment in 2008, she worked as a research scientist at the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program where she investigated racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cancer outcomes.

Dr. Liu's research examines how social, economic, cultural, behavioral, and environmental factors influence cancer development, diagnosis, and survival. She specializes in spatial epidemiology and immigrant health, documenting the rapid loss of health advantages among U.S. immigrants. Her work leverages population-based cancer registries to study disparities across racial/ethnic groups, socioeconomic strata, and geographic regions including rural-urban continuums.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent focus on cancer disparities through population-based registry data. Her research demonstrates how air pollution affects cancer survival, how rural-urban differences impact hepatocellular carcinoma outcomes, and how immigrant health trajectories change post-migration. She has pioneered methods for identifying race/ethnicity in cancer registries and developing population estimates for detailed racial/ethnic groups.

Scientific recognition includes:

• USC Collaboration Fund Award for her immigrant health initiative

Dr. Liu leads a multidisciplinary team of 12 faculty members from 8 USC schools addressing immigrant health through the USC Collaboration Fund Award. Her SEER Program direction provides critical infrastructure for cancer surveillance research. She has secured funding for initiatives promoting healthy behaviors among immigrants and redefining American lifestyle approaches.

Her laboratory operations center on the SEER Program infrastructure, utilizing spatial analysis techniques to examine geographic patterns in cancer outcomes. The immigrant health initiative represents her primary current team effort, designed to attract faculty and students interested in cross-cultural health promotion.