Liana graduated from Reed College with a B.A. in Biology with Honors in 1989. After college, she traveled as a World Health Organization Consultant working on Polio Eradication in Brazil, Egypt and Morocco. In 1995, Liana entered the Master’s of Nursing/RN Program at Yale School of Nursing, where she became a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner. As a Nurse Practitioner, Liana’s first five years were dedicated to working with under served populations. She created and ran a primary health care clinic in a Native American Residential Drug and Alcohol Program. She then went into private practice in family medicine for six years, with a focus on disease prevention and women’s health issues.