Dr. Hongjie Liu, associate professor of epidemiology in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, has been named associate editor of BMC Public Health, a well-respected journal in the world of public, environmental, and occupational health literature and research.

BMC Public Health is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on the epidemiology of disease and those that improve understanding of all aspects of public health. The journal has a special focus on the social determinants of health, which are the environmental, behavioral, and occupational correlates of health and disease, and the impact of health policies, practices, and interventions on the community.

Dr. Liu, whose research focuses on the social and behavioral aspects of HIV/AIDS and research methodology, was invited this summer to take the lead in the journal’s Health Promotion and Society section. He received his PhD in epidemiology from the UCLA School of Public Health in 2002.

BMC Public Health is one of 65 online research journals published by BioMed Central, a U.K.-based, for-profit scientific publisher specializing in open-access journal publication.  Altogether, BioMed Central’s journals cover a wide range of all major subject areas within biology and medicine.