Dr. Laws obtained her undergraduate degree in music at Oberlin College. She attended Stanford University School of Medicine where she graduated with Honors for Research. She did her internal medicine residency at Stanford University Hospital, then completed three post-doctoral fellowships: 1) Preventive Cardiology at the Stanford Research Prevention Center; 2) Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism; 3) Geriatric Medicine. She is currently board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism.

While a fellow at Stanford, Dr. Laws conducted medical research on the relations of diabetes and insulin resistance to cardiovascular risk factors. She was a co-investigator on the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS), a multi-center study funded by the NIH to examine these relations. Together with Gerald M. Reaven, MD, she edited a ground-breaking book on insulin resistance and its relation to cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Laws has published more than 50 scientific articles, abstracts and book chapters and has presented her research at national and international scientific meetings. 

She currently teaches two classes titled Physicians and Social Responsibility (Autumn) and Physicians and Human Rights (Winter).