Dr. Laura Porter

About Dr. Porter

As a cancer survivor and physician, Dr. Laura D. Porter has a unique perspective on all aspects of navigating cancer treatment and survivorship.

Porter was diagnosed in 2003 with stage 4 colon cancer.

Doctors told her she had an 8 percent chance of living five years. At the time, she was 43 and in her second year of her pediatric residency.

A year after her diagnosis, Porter became a patient advocate and medical consultant in the colon cancer community. During that time, she shared her survival journey and medical expertise online and in print.

Porter later experienced two recurrences in her ovary, liver, pancreas and abdominal lymph nodes. After many rounds of treatment and surgeries, she was declared cancer-free in May 2006.

She now serves on several panels sponsored by national cancer organizations, including the National Cancer Institute and American Society of Clinical Oncology. She also reviews cancer grants as a patient representative for different organizations, including the U.S. Department of Defense.

Porter has co-authored medical journal articles and published Knocking out the Side Effects of Colorectal Cancer Treatment in Coping with Cancer magazine. In 2022, the Global Journal on Quality and Safety in Healthcare featured Porter’s editorial on the importance of patient engagement to improve healthcare research and safety.

Medical journals Porter has co-authored include:

• Enzinger, A., Wind, J., Frank, E., McCleary, N., Porter, L., Cushing, H., Abbott, C., Cronin, C., Enzinger, P., Meropol, N. & Schrag, D. A stakeholder-driven approach to improve the informed consent process for palliative chemotherapy. Patient Education and Counseling, 2017:100,1527-1536.
• Dahabreh, I.J., Steele, D.W., Shah, N. & Trikalinos, T.A. (2014, April). Oral Mechanical Bowel Preparation for Colorectal Surgery. Comparative Effectiveness Review: Number 128.
• King, C., Swain, S., Porter, L., Steinberg, S., Lippman, M. & Gelmann, E. Heterogeneous Expression of erbB-2 Messenger RNA in Human Breast Cancer. Cancer Research, 1989:49, 4185-4191.
• King, C., Borrello, I., Porter, L., Comoglio, P. & Schlessinger, J. Ligand-independent tyrosine phosphorylation of EGF receptor and the erbB-2/neu proto-oncogene product is induced by hyperosmotic shock. Oncogene, 1989:4, 13-18.
• Stahl, J., Leone, A., Rosengard, A., Porter, L., King, C. & Steeg, P. Identification of a Second Human nm23 Gene, nm23- H2. Cancer Research, 1991:51, 445-449.