About Laura

Laura Baker is a psychiatric nurse practitioner, practice owner, speaker, and author of Life After Survival: A Story From Both Sides of the Bed.

After surviving advanced heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, and a heart transplant, Laura spent years rebuilding a life that looked successful from the outside while quietly navigating the lasting effects of trauma. Those experiences, combined with nearly three decades as a nurse and nurse practitioner, gave her a unique perspective on healthcare from both sides of the bed—as both patient and clinician.

Laura earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Rochester before later returning to complete an Advanced Master's Certificate in Psychiatric Mental Health. She is dual board-certified as both a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Family Nurse Practitioner and is the founder of Henrietta Psychiatric NP Care, a multidisciplinary mental health practice serving the Rochester, New York community.

Through her writing and speaking, Laura explores resilience, medical trauma, identity, family dynamics, and the complicated reality that surviving a life-threatening illness is not the end of the story—it is often the beginning of a new one.

When she isn't seeing patients, writing, or speaking, Laura enjoys community theater, traveling with her family, and plotting her next trip to Walt Disney World.