Liz Parker

Elizabeth Parker, Ph.D., RD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Parker’s research focuses on obesity, energy balance and lifestyle interventions to improve health and chronic disease-related outcomes, particularly in populations such as minority and underserved communities at high risk for obesity. She was recently awarded an AHA Career Development Award evaluating current teacher workplace health behaviors, such as diet, physical activity, and work-related stress, and how changes to the school environment may positively impact these behaviors.  She is also the Co-PI of the NIH SEPA funded CURE Connections program, a STEM enrichment program for 9^th and 10^th grade UMB CURE scholars.

Dr. Parker received her undergraduate degree and Ph.D. in Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise from Virginia Tech. Her dissertation project focused on the first clinical trial examining water intake as a weight loss strategy among older adults. Following graduate school, she completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Georgetown/ Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities where she examined beverage intake and dietary quality among African American breast cancer survivors. Dr. Parker joined the University of Maryland faculty in 2016.