Powell, OH
Laura Cleveland started advocating for patients when she initiated patient centered meetings for people diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. What she thought would be a backyard cookout for 20 people turned out to be a conference for over 250 patients and their family members.
Laura began serving on the CALGB Leukemia and Leukemia Correlative Science Committees as a research advocate and now is Vice Chair of the Alliance Patient Advocate Committee. She serves locally as the Research Subject Advocate for patients on Phase I gene therapy transfer trials at The Ohio State University's James Cancer Center. Laura also volunteers for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's First Connection patient matching program. She is the patient advocate on The Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center's Leukemia SPORE's Internal Advisory Board.
Nationally, Laura has spoken at the AACR Annual Meeting and to many patient groups in the United States and Canada. She serves as the patient voice for The CLL Consortium's Data and Safety Monitoring Committee, and training lead at the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Group's Patient Advisory Board. This is Laura's fourth year to serve as faculty for AACR /ASCO's Clinical Trials Methods Course; training new oncologists to write their first clinical trial protocol.
Prior to her service as an advocate, Laura worked as an educator and educational administrator for almost twenty years. Laura is a 14 year Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia survivor, who is grateful to watch her family of three children grow and thrive. She lives with her husband and children in Powell, Ohio.