Harlem Children Society - Leslie Sue Lieberman

Leslie Sue Lieberman, Ph.D. is a Professor of Anthropology and the founding Director of the Women's Research Center at the University of Central Florida. She is a biomedical anthropologist with research specializations in type 2 diabetes, nutrition and obesity especially among US minority women. She also has worked in Croatia since 1988.

The Women’s Research Center conducts activities related to the advancement of women on campus and in the Central Florida area. Recent research has included a campus quality of life survey, a study of sexual harassment among students and an assessment of women leaders in the Orlando area.

Dr. Lieberman is the former President of the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition and the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), the Florida Academy of Sciences, the National Association of Academies of Science and both the University of Florida and University of Central Florida Chapters of Sigma Xi. She is a AAAS fellow and has been the recipient of many awards including the Florida Academy of Sciences medal and the Gorjanovic-Kramberger Award from the Croatian Anthropology Society.

Her research has been supported by NIH, NSF, HRSA, NIMH and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Diabetes Research and Education Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and the Florida Humanities Council, among others.

Dr. Lieberman has co-authored or edited 11 books and published over 70 journal articles and book chapters and more than 200 other works: reports, reviews, editorials.

Harlem Children Society has been very lucky to have Dr. Lieberman serve as a guide and mentor to several of our students over the past few years. We have sent several students under her general supervision from New York City to University of Central Florida where she is based. She has worked on having them in various laboratories, including the NASA research laboratories. She has meticulously taken care of their needs as an exceptional host while their stay in Orlando Florida. Folks like her and Ms. Fran Ragsdale  Associate Center Director of the Women’s Research Center help make dreams possible. HCS salutes mentors like her who pave the way, in spite of all the hurdles, to help train some of our best minds and hearts.