South Carolina

University of South Carolina

Principal Investigator: Angela D. Liese, PhD

Angela D. Liese, PhD, MPH, FAHA, FACE is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. As a nutritional epidemiologist her interests range from health-impacts of foods, food groups and dietary patterns to diabetes epidemiology, public health nutrition and health equity issues. Dr. Liese’s work has been supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health, AHA, and the American Diabetes Association. Since 2000 Dr. Liese has been involved in the multi-center SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study. In 2020 she was funded for a new diabetes surveillance effort in youth as part of the CDC-funded DiCAYA study. Dr. Liese has published more than 190 peer-reviewed manuscripts and mentored 27 graduate students, including 13 doctoral students in epidemiology.

Co-Investigators

  • Dr. Bo Cai, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health at UofSC

  • Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, MPH, RD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  • Dr. Jihad Obeid, MD, FAMIA, Professor of Public Health Sciences and Co-Director of the Biomedical Informatics Center at the Medical University of South Carolina

  • Dr. Caroline Rudisill, PhD, MSc, Health Economist and Associate Professor in the Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior in the Arnold School of Public Health at UofSC


Sub-Site Co-Investigators

  • Dr. Elaine Apperson, pediatric endocrinologist located at Prisma Heath Upstate

  • Dr. Deborah Bowlby, pediatric endocrinologist located at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)

  • Dr. Lisa Knight, pediatric endocrinologist located at UofSC


Project Support

  • Jessica Stucker, MSW, Project Manager

  • Terry Headley, Medical Record Abstractor

  • Jeff Puckett, Data Manager

About Our Center

The South Carolina DiCAYA site is directed from the University of South Carolina (UofSC) Arnold School of Public Health located in Columbia, SC, by Dr. Angela Liese, an experienced diabetes epidemiologist who has also been involved in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth surveillance effort since its inception. We are comprised of a highly-experienced, collaborative and multi-disciplinary investigative team which includes:

Contact Information

Angela D. Liese, PhD, MPH, FACE, FAHA
Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Arnold School of Public Health
University of South Carolina
Phone: (803) 777-9414
Fax: (803) 777-2524
Liese@sc.edu