Liela earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from Baylor University where she worked in the laboratory of Prof. Kevin Pinney synthesizing small molecule inhibitors of cathepsin L. She carried out her graduate studies at UT Southwestern Medical Center as a Chilton Foundation Fellow under the mentorship of Prof. Uttam Tambar. There, she studied catalytic asymmetric hetero-ene and cycloaddition chemistry using sulfurimide-based oxidants and contributed to medicinal chemistry efforts targeting the HIF-2a transcription factor. After obtaining her PhD in 2016, Liela joined the laboratory of Stephen Buchwald at MIT as an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow where she worked in the area of copper hydride catalysis. In 2020, Liela began her independent career at Baylor University after receiving a CPRIT Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Member Award. Research in the Romero group is centered on the development and mechanistic study of novel catalytic reactions and their applications to natural product synthesis and medicinal chemistry. Ongoing work includes stereoselective halogenation via Lewis base catalysis and investigating new avenues for zirconocene hydride catalysis. Liela was recently recognized with a 2024 Thieme Chemistry Journals Award, an NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award, and as a 2024 ACS DOC Academic Young Investigator.