Laura Gould Crandall, MA is currently a research scientist in the Department of Neurology at the NYU School of Medicine, joined NYULMC as the director of the SUDC Registry and Research Collaborative, and President and Executive Director of the SUDC Foundation. Laura is also a licensed Physical Therapist in New Jersey and New York. She earned her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from New York University in 1990 and 1996.
In 1997, her first child, Maria, succumbed to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) at the age of 15 months. Through the death investigation of Maria, Laura was convinced that changes in the system could and should be achieved. So, she advocated for new child death investigation legislation in New Jersey, which became law in 2000. A subsequent New Jersey law regarding research passed in 2006, and in 2014, “The Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement and Awareness Act” was signed into law by President Obama. At the SUDC Foundation, Laura strives to support families by upholding the mission of being the centralized resource for SUDC information, support, advocacy and crucial research. Laura’s work has been important for epilepsy, because a third of SUDC cases have a history of febrile seizure.
In 2007, Laura was honored as Glamour magazine’s “Woman of Your Year”, and in 2015, she was the recipient of the “Portrait of Courage” award from the National Organization of Rare Disorders (NORD). Laura is a member of the National Association of Medical Examiners, an advisory member of the National Sudden Death In the Young (SDY) registry, an executive board member of the North American SUDEP Registry (NASR), executive officer of the (Federal) Organization for Scientific Area Committees (OSAC), subcommittee for medicolegal death investigation, and board member of the National Forensic Science Commission’s subcommittee on medicolegal death investigation.