Laura Schmidt, PhD, MSW, MPH
Laura A. Schmidt, PhD, is a Professor of Health Policy in the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. She holds a joint appointment in the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. She received her PhD training in sociology at UC Berkeley and while there, also completed doctoral coursework in public health.
Dr. Schmidt seeks to understand how changing lifestyles are contributing to rising rates of chronic disease across the globe and what to do about it. Her work explores the growing pressures of globalizing economies, rising inequality, and the marketization of products that undermine our health. She works directly with policymakers to craft and implement evidence-based policies that reduce the consumption of ultra-processed foods and other commercial products that harm human and planetary health.