Laura is a PhD candidate at the ANU Institute for Communication in Health Care and an Institute for Healthcare Improvement Fellow (2024-25), focused on improving the quality and safety of patient care. Her research examines how diagnostic uncertainty is communicated in emergency departments, focusing on the experiences and perspectives of patients and caregivers, to support safe diagnosis.

Combining linguistic expertise with qualitative research methods, Laura is exploring patient and caregiver expectations about diagnosis and communication of uncertainty, and how they navigate uncertainty across their diagnostic journey in the ED. This work aims to develop patient-centered approaches to diagnostic excellence in the high-stakes emergency care environment. Laura is supervised by Dr Mary Dahm and contributes to her ARC DECRA Fellowship project investigating communication's critical role in diagnostic safety.

Poster for the IHI-BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care, November 2025, Canberra, Australia.

Since joining the Institute for Communication in Health Care in 2020, Laura has developed expertise in qualitative health communication research and translating research findings into practical interventions to improve nurse patient care. This work on nursing handover has been published in leading international nursing journals (Chien et al 2022; 2024) and has informed practice change across multiple hospital wards.

Laura is committed to consumer engagement in healthcare research, actively involving consumers in shaping her work. She is also advocating for improved diagnostic safety at the national level, calling for diagnostic safety to be included in Australia's National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards 3rd edition. Alongside her academic publications, Laura writes for professional and public audiences on topics including nursing practice change, consumer partnerships in research, and women's diagnostic experiences.

Laura was awarded the University Medal for her Bachelor of Arts/ Asian Studies (Japanese) with First Class Honours at the Australian National University (GPA 6.7), 2001-2006.

She also completed a Graduate Diploma of Professional Writing at Deakin University (GPA 6.9) in 2015.