Diane is the Louis Block Distinguished Service professor of Public Health Sciences and the College at the University of Chicago. Public Health Sciences is a department in the Biological Sciences Division that includes core public health fields such as epidemiology, biostatistics and health services research. The department is also the home of the Biostatistics Lab and the Survey Lab, which are core resources for the Division. Diane was chair of the department from 2013 to 2026.

Diane is an epidemiologist whose research spans studies of communicable and noncommunicable diseases as well as methodologic studies. Her areas of focus include epidemiology and demography of aging, observational study designs, and research on social determinants of health and health-related behaviors such as sleep.

She is the founding director of two graduate programs: a master’s degree program in research methods for clinicians and a master of public health (MPH) program, which was accredited by the Council for Education in Public Health in 2025.