Lauren Van Scoy

Lauren Van Scoy, MD, is a Professor at the Penn State College of Medicine, holding dual appointments in the Department of Medicine (Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine) and the Department of Public Health Sciences. She also serves in the Penn State Cancer Institute’s Cancer Control division. Her work focuses on qualitative and mixed-methods research in healthcare communication, particularly in end-of-life care and critical care medicine.

Education: MD from Drexel University College of Medicine (2006), Chief Residency in Pulmonary and Critical Care (2013), and a BS in Biology from Emory University (2001). She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, and Critical Care Medicine.

Research interests include developing tools for advance care planning, improving ICU communication, and addressing health disparities through projects like Project Talk’s 'Hello' conversation game. Her work has been funded by the NIH, Parker B. Francis Foundation, and others. She co-directs the Qualitative and Mixed Methods Core at the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

Teaching roles include co-directing the Medical Ethics and Professionalism Course and Mixed Methods coursework. She has mentored award-winning students and teams, including recipients of the Graduate Medical Education Innovation Award and the K. Danner Clouser Student Research Award.

Awards include the Junior Faculty Award for Clinical Research (2016) and collaborative recognition for exceptional team research (2020). Her grants and projects span communication quality in ICU settings, end-of-life interventions in underserved communities, and translational research infrastructure development.