Riya Desai, MPH joined the Lyles Lab in 2019 as a Research Data Analyst for the Population Health Data Initiative where she works to analyze geospatial patient data to identify patterns of patient health in order to inform health system programming. She is also a part of Health Equity Hub Initiatives to develop an interactive mapping tool to democratize access to population health data and mobilize health researchers to investigate social determinants and their impact on health.

She graduated from a BA/MPH program at UC Berkeley in Epidemiology/Biostatistics where she gained extensive experience in public health research projects studying neighborhood contextual effects on health locally and globally and the impact of health in all policies governance strategies in Richmond, CA. She is committed to employing research as a tool for advocating for an achieving health equity.”