Hui (Cathy) Liu

Hui (Cathy) Liu is the Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course, as well as a professor of sociology. Before her appointment at Purdue, she served as a professor of sociology and the founding director of the Family and Population Health Laboratory at Michigan State University. Dr. Liu holds a B.A. and M.A. in Economics from Nankai University in China, an M.S. in Statistics, and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Liu's research is primarily guided by the aging and life course perspective, with a focus on investigating the social determinants of population health. Her work centers on developing, testing, and advancing scientific knowledge of marriage and family processes that both impact and are impacted by health and well-being over the life course. She places particular emphasis on studying these dynamics among vulnerable populations, including older adults and sexual and gender minorities.

Dr. Liu's contributions to the field have been recognized through numerous prestigious national awards, including an NIH Career Award (Mentored Research Scientist Development Award). She is an elected fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a selected Butler-Williams Scholar by the National Institute on Aging. Currently, Dr. Liu serves as a standing member of the NIH Social Sciences and Population Studies (SSPB) study section.