Georgia State Public Health Student Andrea Del Pilar Torres Bermudez Successfully Defends Ph.D. Dissertation

2016 Sep 13

Andrea Del Pilar Torres Bermudez of Chamblee, a student at the School of Public Health at Georgia State University, successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation on community-based interventions to promote physical activity and combat non-communicable diseases this summer.

"Physical inactivity is a leading cause of death worldwide and contributes significantly to the burden of non-communicable diseases," Dr. Torres Bermudez's study stated. "Physical inactivity has become a global pandemic with the highest prevalence in the Americas region."

Dr. Torres Bermudez's research found that community-based programs implemented in public spaces help boost leisure-time activity within vulnerable populations in the United States, including low-income, overweight and obese women and ethnic minorities, such as Hispanics.

After earning her doctorate in public health, Dr. Torres Bermudez landed a job as a senior research associate at ICF International, where she will be involved in the organization's review of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new physical activity guidelines.