Lissa is a Health Communication PhD candidate at the University of New Mexico (UNM) where her studies focus on breastfeeding policy and communication. While working on her PhD, she serves as a public health beat reporter for the UNM Daily Lobo and as an adjunct instructor at Central New Mexico Community college.
In 2007, Lissa won the National Public Health Association Inaugural Trong Nguyen Memorial Award for Student Leadership in recognition of her policy work to get the New Mexico ‘Breastpump Use in the Workplace’ bill signed into law.
More recently Lissa has led numerous successful statewide public health policy campaigns including lactation care provider licensure (2017), alternative sentencing for pregnant and lactating inmates (2019), and correctional facility lactation policies (2019). At the local level, she was instrumental in getting paid parental leave passed for City of Albuquerque employees (2018).
Lissa lives in downtown Albuquerque with her 14-year-old daughter, 7 backyard chickens, 2 dogs, and a cat.