Laura DiGrande is an applied epidemiologist with over two decades of experience in public health surveillance, research, and program planning. Before joining RTI, Dr. DiGrande worked as an epidemiologist, research scientist, and program director at Massachusetts, New Mexico, and New York City departments of health. She has expertise in creating and using active and passive surveillance systems that rely on administrative data and surveys. Her substantive knowledge base focuses most on the epidemiology of disasters, emergency preparedness, injury prevention, and non-communicable disease. Her projects at RTI often utilize longitudinal cohort and cross-sectional observational study designs. Dr. DiGrande served twice as a mentor in the CDC/CSTE Applied Epidemiology Program. She has also been an educator of undergraduates in sociology and graduate students in public health and medicine.
Dr. DiGrande was also the principal investigator of a pilot study that found that people who stayed in American Red Cross shelters set up in North Carolina during Hurricane Florence had many social and economic needs. Her work has highlighted the needs of community members with limitations that hindered their ability to make other arrangements to ensure their safety during Hurricane Florence.
