Her research examines the diffusion of behaviors and non-contagious diseases. She joined UCLA in 2012 after working at Columbia University, New York. Her recent publications focus on the rising prevalence of autism. Her paper “Social Influence and the Autism Epidemic” published in the American Journal of Sociology, won the Eliot Freidson Outstanding Publication Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Medical Sociology. Her doctorate research conducted at the University of Oxford focused on the effects of social interactions on suicide. Liu was named a Hellman Fellow (2014-15) for her research on the diffusion of non-medical exemptions to school vaccine requirements in California.