Liao Yue

Dr. Liao’s research focuses on utilizing mobile technology and wearable sensors to monitor daily behaviors such as physical activity, sedentary behavior, eating, and sleep. She investigates the contextual and psychosocial factors influencing these behaviors. Her current work aims to develop personalized, adaptable interventions using real-time data from wearable biosensors with the goals to promote physical activity in overweight and obese individuals to reduce the risk of obesity-related cancers (e.g., breast, colorectal) and in sedentary cancer patients to enhance quality of life and improve cancer outcomes.

Dr. Liao's training background includes public health, biostatistics, and behavioral science with a focus on real-time data capture methods using wearable sensors and mobile technologies to promote a healthy lifestyle for chronic disease prevention.

Dr. Liao completed her undergraduate degree in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. She then went to Texas for her Master of Public Health program with a focus in Biostatistics from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and moved back to Los Angeles for her PhD degree in Health Behavior Research at USC. She went back to Houston again for her postdoctoral training at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and received the competitive Janice Davis Gordon Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship in Colorectal Cancer Prevention. After her postdoctoral training, she was awarded the prestigious Duncan Family Institute Mentored Junior Faculty Fellowship in Cancer Prevention Research at MD Anderson as an instructor.

Dr. Liao is a 2019 fellow of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer (TREC). She is the inaugural fellow (2021) of the Diversity Institute for Emerging Leaders of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM). In 2024, she was selected as the PRIDE-CVD Scholar (Programs for Inclusion and Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research), a research education and mentoring initiative sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

Dr. Liao now directs the Physical Activity and Wearable Sensors (PAWS) Lab at UT Arlington. She is an Affiliate Faculty of the Multi-Interprofessional Center for Health Informatics, and an Affiliate Member at the Division of Data Science at UT Arlington.

Beyond her research, Dr. Liao actively collaborates with the local community, engaging in initiatives that align with their needs and fostering partnerships that contribute to promoting community health improvements. She is the site director of Kourage Health at UT Arlington, a community-based exercise program for patients with cancer and other chronic diseases. She is also the associate director for the Center for Healthy Living and Longevity (CHLL) at UT Arlington, overseeing the Center's community engagement component. In 2024, Dr. Liao received the Annual Dean's Community Outreach & Partnership Award from the College of Nursing and Health Innovation.

In 2024, Dr. Liao served on the judging panel and as a mentor for the CancerX Accelerator, a public-private partnership to boost innovation in the fight against cancer. Hosted by the Moffitt Cancer Center, alongside the Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), it convenes the many diverse stakeholders needed to unleash the power of innovation to reduce the burden of cancer for everyone.

In 2025, Dr. Liao was honored as Arlington's 40 Under 40 by the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce for her emerging role as a community leader.