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Llanos was selected from a pool of hundreds of exceptional nominees, who are all distinguished faculty across a variety of academic disciplines actively working towards making our society more equitable and just.
Since receiving her PhD in 2009 from Howard University and joining Rutgers in 2013, Llanos has focused her research on understanding and addressing inequities in cancer outcomes, through transdisciplinary and collaborative studies that examine molecular and socio-biologic mechanisms as contributors to increased cancer mortality, particularly among minority and medically underserved populations.
Her contributions to the field of cancer epidemiology have filled gaps in knowledge and will make an impact towards addressing the immense health disparities faced by Black and other racial/ethnic minority populations.
“In the U.S., Black women diagnosed with breast cancer are 42% more likely to die of their disease than white women,” says Llanos, who is also a researcher in the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. “One of the things that I would like to contribute to is making that gap smaller.”
In addition to her scholarship, Llanos teaches several courses, like cancer epidemiology and molecular epidemiology, at the Rutgers School of Public Health. She also serves as a mentor to masters’ and doctoral students, including as a primary mentor of a doctoral student who studied cumulative stress on outcomes in Black breast cancer patients.
“I am honored to be named a 2021 Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education,” she adds.
Llanos has received numerous awards, including the Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award from the American Association for Cancer Research; Excellence in Teaching and Research Awards from the New Jersey Health Foundation; Buckeyes Under 40 Award from The Ohio State University Black Alumni Society; and several others.
“Dr. Llanos is an exceptional scholar,” says Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health. “Her research is incredibly timely and relevant, addressing tangible problems and health disparities experienced by medically underserved populations.”
The complete January 2021 issue of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education is available here.
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Rutgers School of Public Health The Rutgers School of Public Health – New Jersey’s leading academic institution in public health – is committed to advancing health and wellbeing and preventing disease throughout New Jersey, the United States, and the world, by preparing students as public health leaders, scholars, and practitioners; conducting public health research and scholarship; engaging collaboratively with communities and populations; and actively advocating for policies, programs, and services through the lens of equity and social justice. Learn how the Rutgers School of Public Health is “keeping the ‘public’ in public health,” by visiting them at https://sph.rutgers.edu.
