Laura Peabody

LAURA S. PEABODY is the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel for Mass General Brigham. Mass General Brigham is an academic health care system based in Boston, caring for patients across the full continuum of care including academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a nonprofit organization, committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community with approximately 85,000 employees and annual revenue exceeding $20 billion. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations with several Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals.

Laura’s responsibilities include providing legal and strategic advice throughout the Mass General Brigham system including to its CEO and Boards of Directors. Laura is expert in corporate governance and is currently leading changes to Mass General Brigham’s governance structure to support its system-wide integration efforts.

Laura manages a team of lawyers, paralegals and support staff with expertise in all areas of health care law including patient care issues, labor and employment, corporate transactions, network development, regulatory compliance, litigation, government investigations, research compliance, and commercialization of technology. In addition, she oversees the Office for Interaction with Industry, a group that implements and oversees all policies relating to interactions with industry and outside activities including oversight and integration of all conflict of interest disclosure processes.

Laura is also responsible for the Mass General Brigham Government Affairs team that manages government relations at the local, state and federal levels. This work involves developing and maintaining relationships with public officials including the Governor, Cabinet Secretaries and staff in the Department of Public Health. Massachusetts is a heavily regulated state requiring the development of strategies to work within the legal and regulatory framework. In addition, the Government Affairs group partners with internal and external lobbyists to impact laws, regulations, and public policy affecting Mass General Brigham. The team works closely with many associations and trade groups including the Massachusetts Hospital Association, the American Hospital Association, and the American Association of Medical Colleges. This work interfaces with Mass General Brigham’s United Against Racism initiative.

Prior to joining Mass General Brigham in 2017, Laura was Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer of Northwell, Inc., a major not-for-profit integrated health care delivery system serving the greater New York area and the largest employer in the State of New York. Ms. Peabody was responsible for legal services for the entire organization, including the boards of trustees. During the four years Laura spent at Northwell, she restructured its corporate governance structure.

Before representing health systems, Laura spent many years representing healthcare payors, often focusing on reimbursement matters. She was an attorney at Harvard Community Health Plan, Deputy General Counsel at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and General Counsel at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. At Harvard Pilgrim, Laura was responsible for the provision of legal services to the organization. She also managed Government Affairs, Internal Audit, Real Estate, and Facilities and programs for the senior market including Medicare Advantage. Ms. Peabody was also the Chair of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation Board.

Laura received her B.A. from Binghamton University (formerly SUNY Binghamton) and her J.D. from Boston University School of Law.