Laura is an Associate Vice President & Group Managing Counsel in the Intellectual Property Group of Merck & Co., Inc. Her team manages the procurement of patents in support of Merck’s human health R&D efforts and product development. She is a graduate of Fordham University Law School, which she attended after receiving her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Washington. Laura started at Merck as an intern in the Intellectual Property Group while in law school and has been with the company for 18 years. She supported both small and large molecule (biologics and vaccines) programs prior to becoming a manager in the group and spent almost three years in Merck’s Corporate Transactions Legal group supporting M&A and various collaboration projects.