Biographical Summary
Laura Vailas graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in zoology, completed a dietetic internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and earned a master’s degree at the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in nutritional sciences with a certificate in gerontology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Houston in psychology.
A registered dietitian, she has been a research nutritionist at the University of Iowa, University of Southern California and University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical Schools, working on clinical trials related to atherosclerosis. She was also a clinical dietitian at USC, counseling patients with complex lipid disorders and educating physicians.
At the University of Houston, she became assistant director of the Institute for Molecular Design, and later, associate dean at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. She is the author of numerous successful grant proposals and peer-reviewed publications.
Mostly recently she served as director of advancement for The Hospital Cooperative, a consortium of 14 hospitals in southeastern Idaho and western Wyoming, and serves on a number of civic and university committees and boards.
She and President Arthur Vailas were married in 1973 and have a daughter, Alexandra, and a son-in-law, Ryan Evjen.