Laura Van Metre Baum, MD, MPH

Dr. Laura Baum is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and cares for patients as part of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center and the Smilow Cancer Hospital Palliative Care Program. Dr. Baum completed a Master’s in Public Health and a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Vanderbilt University. She completed a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital, and her residency at New York University Langone Medical Center, where she served as a Chief Resident. She received her medical degree from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Baum’s research focuses on gastrointestinal cancers, palliative care, and health services. This has included research on chemotherapy use near the end-of-life, unused opioids and benzodiazepines remaining after death, and psychosocial outcomes in young adults and caregivers with new cancer diagnoses.