Lauren received her B.A. degree in Mathematics and Philosophy in 1996 from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in 2000 from the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation, she joined the faculty of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2003. Using a combination of mathematical modeling and experiments, Lauren's research lies at the interface of evolutionary biology and epidemiology. She studies the interplay between disease transmission dynamics and the evolution of pathogens including those responsible for epidemic meningitis, influenza, walking pneumonia, and SARS. In collaboration with public health officials in the US and Canada, Lauren has developed powerful mathematical methods for forecasting the spread of respiratory diseases and designing effective disease control strategies for hospitals and metropolitan areas. Based on this research, the MIT Technology Review named Lauren as one of the top 100 global innovators under age 35.