Daniela Sotres-Alvarez, DrPH

About

Dr. Sotres-Alvarez is a Professor and Associate Director for Population Health Research in the Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center (CSCC) in the Department of Biostatistics at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is co-Investigator of the Hispanic Community Health Study / Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), the largest multi-site community-based cohort of Hispanic/Latinos in the US (N=16,415). Dr. Sotres-Alvarez is PI for HCHS/SOL ancillary study “Preconceptional Health of Latinas and its Association with Child Adiposity” (R01 DK116028-01A1), and PI of eight subcontracts of ancillary studies to the HCHS/SOL Coordinating Center. She is the chair of the HCHS/SOL Quality Control Committee, co-chair of the Statistics, Diet, and Physical Activity Committees, reviewer of the Publications Committee and the Ancillary Studies Committee. As a co-Investigator at HCHS/SOL Coordinating Center she is responsible for providing guidelines on statistical analyses and methods, leading statistical analyses and collaborating scientifically in manuscripts as coauthor or lead author, mentoring early career investigators on the use of HCHS/SOL data and the statistical analyses, and providing statistical input on issues related to study operations.  Her research experience and interest includes addressing measurement error in dietary intake and physical activity and assessing its impact when studying the association of these exposures with health outcomes. Her areas of statistical expertise include categorical data analysis, linear mixed models, latent variable models, and complex survey analysis. Dr. Daniela Sotres-Alvarez is a research professor in the Department of Biostatistics.

She is interested in collaborative research in obesity and nutritional epidemiology, and particularly in research that applies statistical methods to assess and correct measurement error in dietary intake and physical activity. Dr. Sotres-Alvarez's primary research experience and interests include measuring dietary intake, physical activity and their association with health.

Daniela Sotres-Alvarez in the Gillings News

Honors and Awards

Selected to participate at the 3rd Summer Institute in Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology
2007, National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICD) and Institute of Human Development, Child, and Youth Health (IHDCYH)

Special Commendation on Preliminary Doctoral Written Exam
2006, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

UNC Student Inductee
2001, Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health

Scholarship for MS and DrPH in Biostatistics
2000-2009, CONACYT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology)

Honorific Mention on Bachelor’s Thesis
1997, ITAM, Mexico

Key Publications

Shifts in the recent distribution of energy intake among U.S. children aged 2-18 years reflect potential abatement of earlier declining trends. Mendez, M.A., Sotres-Alvarez, D., Miles, D.R., Slining, M.M., Popkin, B.M. (2014). Journal of Nutrition, 144(8), 1291-1297.

Food-group and nutrient-density intakes by Hispanic and Latino backgrounds in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Siega-Riz AM, Sotres-Alvarez D, Ayala GX, Ginsberg M, Himes JH, Liu K, Loria CM, Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Rock CL, Rosemond B, Shor-Posner G, Van Horn L (2014). The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 99(6), 1487-1498.

Latent transition models to study women's changing of dietary patterns from pregnancy to 1 year postpartum. Sotres-Alvarez D, Herring AH and Siega-Riz AM (2013). American Journal of Epidemiology, 177(8), 852-861.

Latent class analysis is useful to classify pregnant women into dietary patterns. Sotres-Alvarez D., Herring A.H., Siega-Riz A.M. (2010). Journal of Nutrition, 140(12), 2253-2259.

Education