Rate My Professor Laura Sands

Laura P. Sands is a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Virginia Tech, with academic appointments in the Center for Gerontology and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. She earned a PhD in quantitative psychology, an MA in biostatistics, and a BA in psychology, all from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining Virginia Tech in 2014, she held positions at Purdue University, including Katherine Birck Professor of Nursing and Director of Research in the School of Nursing, and at the University of California, San Francisco, where she served as Associate Adjunct Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics.

Her research focuses on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of care approaches for vulnerable older adults, including those living with dementia, those with disabilities, those lacking sufficient health care, and those exposed to disasters, as well as determining risks for later-life cognitive and functional decline. She has published more than 160 articles in peer-reviewed journals and served as the founding editor-in-chief of Innovation in Aging, an open-access scientific journal of the Gerontological Society of America published by Oxford University Press.