Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School

Educational Background:
BS, Genetics, Iowa State University
PhD, Biostatistics, University of Minnesota

About Laura
I grew up in suburban Kansas City, Missouri, as a classic nerdy kid—interested in math and science and super motivated by school. With my limited exposure to possible science careers, I took a pre-med route in college. Then after graduation, while doing medical research at Johns Hopkins, I learned the best research teams are interdisciplinary. I wanted to be the one designing studies and analyzing data on such a team, so I went to grad school in public health.

From my first biostatistics class at the University of Minnesota, I knew I’d found the field for me. I was attracted to the power of the toolkit, the thrill of uncovering patterns in data, and the excitement of collaborating with other scientists. With PhD in hand, the randomness of the academic job market landed me in a policy department, another possibility I hadn’t known existed. Now, after several years immersed in health policy research, I have a deep appreciation for the thorniness of the problems, the complexity of the data, and the potential for real-world impact.

I am proud of co-founding the Health Policy Data Science Lab with my colleague, Sherri Rose. We work with a diverse group of trainees across disciplines, and the lab provides a supportive space for them to build community and share skills. We also use lab communications to promote their work and celebrate their accomplishments. It also functions as a recruiting tool to attract talented scholars to our teams.