Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship Program
MGH-BIDMC Harvard

Laura K. Rock, MD

Laura K. Rock, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Areas of Expertise: Medical Education

Academic Interests

Dr. Laura K. Rock is a Pulmonologist and Critical Care Physician at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts and an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is also faculty for the Center for Medical Simulation and is trained as a VitalTalk instructor. She runs communication training programs to promote more effective conversations and teamwork. These include programs for physicians to promote effective and empathic communication between clinicians and patients and family members; programs to understand work culture and how it affects teamwork, the patient experience, and clinician well-being; conflict negotiation; and effective feedback conversations. Her greatest areas of interest are how emotion effects cognitive processes, debriefing clinical work, and how we teach and perform difficult conversations, particularly in critical care.

Awards and Recognition

2011-2012 Putnam Scholar, American Academy on Communication in Healthcare ⁠— Communication teaching and research award

2012 Katherine Swan Ginsburg Humanism in Medicine Inaugural Faculty, BIDMC ⁠— Modeling and teaching humanism in medicine

2012 Abstract Award, Medical Education Day Harvard Medical School

2012 Selected Simulation Leader, Boston Consortium: Disclosure and Apology: Leveraging Simulation for Skill-building and Organizational Change ⁠— Innovative application of simulation in healthcare

2012, 2013 IntensiveTalk Trainer, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center — Selected to join pilot group of faculty for IntensiveTalk communication skills training for critical care fellows

2013-2014 Rabkin Fellow, Shapiro Institute for Education and Research, Harvard Medical School

2013-2014 Shore Family Fellow, Eleanor and Miles Shore Fellowship Program

2014 Senior Academy Member, BIDMC Academy of Medical Educators

2017 Physician Leadership Program, BIDMC

2018 Gold Humanism Honor Society Faculty, BIDMC GME — Selected as advisor for BIDMC Gold Humanism Honor Society Resident Chapter

More information can be found on Dr. Rock’s Harvard Catalyst Profile.

+Current Projects

  • Reducing Peri- and Post-Operative Adverse Events Through In-Situ Debriefing and Spaced Practice of Speaking Up. CCI Protocol #: 2019C000472
  • Dynamic Listening in Healthcare
  • When emotion is present, GIVE: an evidence-based model to build trust, alignment, and promote values-based decisions in critical conversations
  • “Tell me something that’s not in the chart”