Following an outstanding high school career, which included the unique honor of winning the San Gabriel Valley League Spelling Bee championship and being listed as a Rockwell International Scholar, Alida entered a lifetime of academics. She earned her BA at UC Berkeley and MSSW, MPhil and PhD degrees from Columbia. Alida, currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago, is a William Pollack winner for excellence in teaching. At Chicago she also holds several other positions such as Co-Director of the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination, Co-Director of an AIDS Research center, and a Faculty Affiliate on three related organizations. Her overall research agenda is focused on understanding how social context affects the sexual and reproductive health of youth of color.