Liah Watt

Liah Watt is a second-year MPH student in the Maternal and Child Health concentration. She currently does research with the UIC SETL (Social-Emotional Teaching & Learning) Lab, teaches in the Urban Health Program's MHPP, and is a substitute teacher in Chicago Public Schools. She is also in her second year of teaching undergraduate microbiology lab classes as a TA.
   
Previously, she was the Advocacy Coordinator on the Executive Board of the Maternal and Child Health National Network, on the Steering Committee of the UIC Maternal and Child Health Student Interest Group, and served as a research assistant under Dr. Arden Handler on an inter-governmental agreement with the Illinois Department of Public Health on COVID-19 and pregnancy in Illinois. In the summer before her second year, she worked with the Vermont Department of Health through the Title V Internship Program on a project related to gathering equitable feedback from hard-to-reach WIC participants.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Neuroscience from Wellesley College in 2019 with an additional minor in Women’s and Gender Studies, concentrating on Health and Bioethics. In the years before she entered UIC, she worked as the lead research associate for anesthesia research in outpatient surgery patients on postoperative pain and residual neuromuscular blockade.

Liah’s interests in public health include early childhood health and development, and she views equitable education policy and educational opportunity as vital to children’s health. She also has a lasting interest in clinical healthcare delivery as well as the built environment's effect on health and development.

After graduation, Liah is hoping to take on a role as a policy analyst for health, education, or related policy concerning the 0-8 age range.

Fun Fact - Even though she took two years of Swahili in college, Liah was still laughed at by a three-year-old in Tanzania for not being able to keep up with their conversation.

1. Renew, J. R., Hernandez-Torres, V., Logvinov, I., Nemes, R., Nagy, G., Li, Z., Watt, L., & Murphy, G. S. (2021). Comparison of the TetraGraph and TOFscan for monitoring recovery
   from neuromuscular blockade in the post anesthesia care unit. Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, 71, 110234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinane.2021.110234

1. “The Effect of Methadone on Chronic Postsurgical Pain After Complex Spine Surgery” at Mt. Sinai’s International Clinical Update in Anesthesiology, 2020. 3rd Place prize.