Lilia Calleros Lopez (she/her) is an MPH-65 student in the Health and Social Behavior Program. She was born and raised in Pacoima, CA, a formerly redlined neighborhood in Los Angeles County. She is a first generation Mexican-American with parents from Jalisco and Sinaloa. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Public Health and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley she served in varied roles including as a Chair of the Diversity, Inclusion, Community, and Equity group at the School of Public Health, Chair of Diversity in the Latina organization Hermanas Unidas, and participated in the Latinx Caucus. She was also appointed to the Vice Chancellor of Equity and Inclusion’s Chicanx/Latinx Committee as Berkeley began conversation of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution. Alongside her community, she raised over $10,000 for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and for the 2018 Central American caravan at the Southern Border and traveled to Tijuana to provide direct aid.
After graduating she worked for a Latino civil rights non-profit supporting Voting Rights, Census, and Redistricting work, with cases against Latino voter dilution and gerrymandering of minority communities. She then transitioned into a role at the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) through the CDC’s Public Health Associate Program, supporting Adolescent and School Health and currently works for RIDOH as a Program Specialist in Adolescent Health. She also serves as the Vice President of Student Advocacy at Harvard Chan (HCSA) and is on the Social Behavioral Sciences Department’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee. Lilia’s public health passions are studying the ways in which zip code impacts health and exploring voting rights and access to government resources as social determinants of health. Lilia really likes Winnie the Pooh, Van Gogh, puzzles, and basketball.
