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PostGRES Profile Detail – Staff

Biography

Laura joined the DFM in 2021 as the Department's first female Vice Chair who reports to the Department Chair and focuses on supporting DFM administration, finance, operations, and all DFM staff. She believes in empowering staff to be their best selves and working towards their personal missions through their professional roles. Prior to joining UW, Laura led the Fred Hutch Cancer Center Practice Plan Administration for 9 years, where she supported physicians who are also researchers developing new treatments for cancer. She previously worked in planning & strategy for PeaceHealth, where she worked with 9 PeaceHealth hospitals on annual goal setting and various alignment projects focused on business planning, environmental stewardship and recognition. Her early career at the American Cancer Society involved fundraising, community engagement and program management, where she served as Community Relationship Manager, Account Director, Executive Director and District Executive Director. Laura started her career in Seattle at a small nonprofit social services agency where she did everything from recruit volunteers to initiate new programs to deliver food to those who could not leave their homes and bring joy to families during the holidays. Prior to this, she taught English as a Second Language to children in Seoul, South Korea.

Passionate about social justice and serving others, Laura has held various volunteer roles over the years, including the Board of Directors and as Board President for The Goodtimes Project, a Seattle organization whose mission is to bring joy to kids with cancer, in addition to the Board of Directors for Boomtown Cafe, a no-cost restaurant who served food with dignity to all community members. She has also participated in various professional organizations, such as the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Administrative Directors Special Interest Group, where she led a survey and report out on staffing for Advanced Practice Providers in Bone Marrow Transplant programs in addition to Long Term Follow Up programs. She is currently serving as Membership Co-Chair for the Association of Departments of Family Medicine (ADFM).

Laura has a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the University of Colorado at Boulder with cum laude honors. She focused her honors thesis on the ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia as it impacted Kosovo and Macedonia and traveled there to do onsite research. She has a Masters in Healthcare Administration from the University of Washington where she focused her capstone project on physician leadership at Seattle Children's Hospital.

In her spare time, she can be found playing with her two incredibly strong daughters, baking banana chocolate chip muffins, taking walks with her dogs and practicing hot yoga.