Erika Marquez, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor for the School of Public Health. Her research focus is on health disparities with an emphasis on the built environment and system-level influences that result in inequities in health. She has devoted the last decade of her career to working on local issues focused on housing quality, housing-related health concerns, and housing equity. Specifically, she has examined the impact of lead as an environmental hazard in children through direct efforts to improve housing conditions, using surveillance data to inform public health decisions, and has embarked on using an academic detailing approach to engage providers as a method to increase blood lead testing in children. She oversees the implementation of the OneCommunity Campaign focused on conducting education and outreach to vulnerable communities in Nevada, hardest hit by COVID-19 using a Community Based Participatory Approach. In addition, she oversees and co-leads the Nevada Vaccine Equity Collaborative which provides a statewide forum to strategize vaccine outreach in the hardest-hit communities across the state. Under this work vaccine and COVID-19 case, data is mapped with the Social Vulnerability Index to guide on-the-ground community efforts.

Marquez is passionate about using data and research to inform programs, policies, and practices, as well as to advance the field of public health. She utilizes a mix-methods approach to research incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.  She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from San Francisco State University. She completed her Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and her Ph.D. in Public Health with a focus in Social Behavioral Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Marquez has conducted research at each of these institutions, as well as Stanford University.  

Marquez is also actively involved in local, state, regional, and national boards and coalitions. In 2019, she was appointed to serve on the Lead Exposure and Prevention Advisory Committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (LEPAC). In collaboration with other federal agencies, the LEPAC serves to help guide federal programs and services, review and identify best practices, identify additional research needs, and identify effective services for communities affected by lead exposure and lead poisoning. Marquez also serves as an active member of the Nevada Minority Health and Equity Coalition, the Nevada Public Health Association, and the Nevada Vaccine Equity Collaborative