Alumna Michelle Laws, PhD named 2025 10 Under 10 Awardee!
VCU Alumni’s 10 Under 10 awards recognizes the noteworthy and distinctive achievements made by alumni who earned their first VCU degree (undergraduate, graduate or professional) within the past 10 years.
Michelle Laws, PhD, who earned her PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences in 2016, has been selected by VCU’s Office of Alumni Relations as one of 2025’s 10 Under 10 alumni. She is currently an adjunct professor at North Carolina Central University and CEO and principal consultant of Symbiotic Strategies.
A native of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Dr. Laws is a dynamic teacher, scholar and public speaker who is best known for her advocacy for social justice, human rights, persons with mental illness, and poor women and children.
Laws leads Symbiotic Strategies, a public relations firm that works to improve relationships between the health care industry and historically marginalized populations. Besides her adjunct role at North Carolina Central University, she has also served as an adjunct professor at VCU and North Carolina State University and has taught classes in federal and state prisons.
Her distinguished professional career includes serving at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as the assistant director of consumer support services and community engagement and as the diversity, equity and inclusion chair. She was secretary of the department’s COVID response team, where she developed and implemented policies and directed funding to increase testing and vaccinations in North Carolina’s historically marginalized populations, and was the chief experience officer for the North Carolina Medical Society. In 2018, she became the first Black woman to run for a congressional seat in North Carolina’s 4th District on the Democratic ticket.
Inspired by the courageous women who came before her, she is a servant-leader. “Awards and recognition are nice, but being able to serve in positions that have allowed me to be a voice and advocate for those who have been devalued, discarded and disregarded are much grander aspirations,” she says.
She holds a Ph.D. in social and behavioral sciences from VCU. She graduated magna cum laude with a Master of Arts degree from North Carolina Central University and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Read the full article and discover this year’s other awardees here: https://www.vcualumni.org/events/10-under-10/
Categories Alumni News