Laurie Dempsey is a member of the Biomedical Science Advisory Committee for the Vilcek Foundation. In this capacity, she works alongside the other members of the advisory committee to provide expert guidance to the Vilcek Foundation on programs and initiatives in biomedical science. Since 2008, Dempsey has served as a juror for the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science, providing support to the foundation’s senior staff and programs team on the determination and award of the foundation’s awards.

Passionate about research science, education, and science journalism, Dempsey obtained her BS degree in microbiology at the University of Michigan and her PhD in microbiology at New York University, where she studied extrachromosomal DNA replication and recombination with Dave Dubnau. Following postdoctoral research appointments with Nick Cozzarelli at the University of California, Berkeley, and Saleem Khan at the University of Pittsburgh, she switched to the study of immunoglobulin gene recombination with Nancy Maizels at Yale University. 

Dempsey’s research focus shifted to transplantation biology when she was invited to join Jeff Platt’s research group, then at Duke University and subsequently at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, MN. With Platt’s team, her research focused on immune hurdles that jeopardize transplant survival, including hyperacute vascular rejection processes initiated by antibody-complement interactions and heparan sulfate digesting heparanase enzymes. In 2001 Dempsey joined the editorial team of Nature Immunology, where she lends her expertise to the review and publication of research papers of the highest quality and significance in all areas of immunology. As senior editor, she oversees the manuscript peer review process for the publication and contributes monthly research highlights summarizing and synthesizing new findings. Dempsey has also written leading editorial features for Nature Immunology on a range subjects, including issues at the forefront of immunological research, and the role that mentorship and community plays in the advancement of scientific work.

Dempsey is a member of the American Association of Immunologists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the International Cytokine & Interferon Society. Since 2005, she has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Aegean Conferences. Dempsey also served as a scientific co-organizer for Nature’s 2023 Conference, “Cracking the code: The dawn of nucleic acid medicines.” She is a frequent invited speaker and lecturer, and has given talks at leading scientific institutions and conferences across the globe.