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Laura Lyman Rodriguez, PhD, is the Deputy Executive Director for Strategy and Planning at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She has focused her career on developing policies and partnerships to advance research for public benefit and create knowledge bases able to inform patient-centered care options.

She previously served as the Interim Chief Program Support Officer, where she led the integration of key operational services that support PCORI’s programs, including merit review, contracts management, and information management to support the integrity of these activities. She also led Program Support’s efforts to increase integration of research operations with PCORI activities across the science, engagement, and dissemination portfolios. As a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director, Rodriguez provides leadership for cross-cutting strategic initiatives to enhance synergy and connectivity across PCORI.  

Prior to joining PCORI, Rodriguez was the Director of Genome Policy and National Engagement at Geisinger National Precision Health where she focused on building a patient-focused approach to genomic and precision medicine implementation. For more than 16 years before that she worked at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spending the majority of her time there as the Director of the NHGRI Division of Policy, Communications, and Education. As genomic science advanced toward clinical applications, Rodriguez brought the activities under her purview together to engage and prepare researchers, healthcare providers, and patients for the realization of genomic information as a tool to improve health.  While at NIH, Rodriguez was also a primary leader for the development and agencywide implementation of NIH genomic data sharing policies, designing responsible approaches to their intrinsic ethical considerations and regulatory obligations. Before joining NHGRI, she spent time at the National Academy of Medicine, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, and on Capitol Hill.

Rodriguez received her bachelor of science with honors in biology from Washington and Lee University and earned a doctorate in cell biology from Baylor College of Medicine.