Laura E. Walker, M.D., M.B.A.

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SUMMARY

Laura E. Walker, M.D., conducts research to improve care delivery through shared decision-making, guided conversations regarding end-of-life wishes, equity in both access and representation, and interpersonal interactions between patient and provider.

Focus areas

• Using data science to explore health care systems to identify and implement improvements in care delivery. This research has a specific focus on network science applied to emergency and hospital care within regional hospital systems.
• Improving the delivery of value-concordant care through shared decision-making and guided conversations. Dr. Walker is developing, refining and implementing a tool to facilitate conversations regarding end-of-life wishes in the unscheduled acute care setting.
• Equity in health care. These efforts exist in both care access and staff representation (specifically, growing the number of women in leadership roles in emergency medicine and other venues)

Significance to patient care

Ensuring a patient-oriented health care experience is a result of how, when and where care is delivered; interpersonal interactions between providers and patients; providing care that is concordant with patient values; and care being delivered from providers who look like their patients. Keeping care close to home, effective and meaningful is the goal of Dr. Walker's work.

Professional highlights

• Practice Innovation Grant, SEMN Application of Network Science to Mayo Clinic Midwest, 2021
• Patient-Centered Outcome Grant, Emergency Medicine Foundation, 2017-2020
• Research Award, Academic Women in Emergency Medicine, 2017