Michelle Laws, PhD

Former Chief Experience Officer at North Carolina Medical Society

Speaker

Dr. Michelle Laws is the CEO and Principal Consultant for Symbiotic Strategies, public relations firm. Prior to launching Symbiotic Strategies, Dr. Laws served as the Chief Experience Officer for the North Carolina Medical Society, leading the Medical Society’s Communications & Marketing and Member Services teams. Prior to joining the Medical Society, Dr. Laws served as the Assistant Director of Consumer Support Services and Community Engagement and the DEI Chair for the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services (MH/DD/SAS). In March 2020, Dr. Laws was selected to serve on the NC DHHS’s Secretary’s COVID Response team to help lead the Historically Marginalized Populations (HMP) Workgroup and guide the Department’s work to improve health outcomes for North Carolina’s historically marginalized populations during the COVID19 pandemic. This work included providing guidance to increase testing and vaccine access among African Americans, COVID-19 communications and serving as a member of the Health Equity Braintrust team which played a key role in analyzing and interpreting the COVID data trends.

Dr. Michelle Laws is a passionate and dynamic public speaker with both national and international experience and accolades. Dr. Laws’ distinguished professional career also includes serving as the Director of Policy and Public Advocacy for the NC National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-NC); Assistant Director of the Community Health Coalition, Inc.,; and an adjunct professor at VCU School of Medicine, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, and college-transfer courses in federal and state prisons.

A native of Chapel Hill, NC, Dr. Laws holds a PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Department of Health Behavior and Policy (Phi Kappa Phi); Master of Arts Degree in Sociology from North Carolina Central University (Magna Cum Laude); and Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.