Dr. Laura Marsh is the Executive Director of Mental Health at the Michael E. DeBakey VAMC and a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine.  A geriatric neuropsychiatrist, Dr Marsh’s clinical and research expertise is on recognition and treatment of psychiatric disturbances in patients with Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders  That work has shaped her approach to mental health care delivery, which is to facilitate integration of mental health care into non-mental health care settings and promote positive attitudes, beliefs, and initiatives regarding the care and treatment of psychiatric illnesses in the medical and lay community.  

Dr. Marsh graduated from Ohio State University College of Medicine, completed her Psychiatry Residency at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and clinical research fellowship training at the National Institute of Mental Health and at Stanford University School of Medicine. After her fellowships, she was an Assistant Professor at Stanford until 1998, when she returned to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD as an Associate Professor and directed the Clinical Research Program of a NIH-funded Morris K. Udall Parkinson’s Disease Research Center. In 2009, Dr. Marsh moved to Houston for her current position.  Dr. Marsh has published widely on psychiatric aspects of PD and served on advisory boards for Parkinson Foundation and American Parkinson’s Disease Association for many years.  Locally, she is a member of the Houston Area Parkinson’s Society (HAPS) Medical Advisory Board, the Houston Workgroup for the SAMHSA-VA Mayors’ Challenge to Prevent Suicide in Veterans, Family Members and Caregivers, and the Homeless Cross System Planning Group coordinated by the Houston Downtown Management District and Houston/Harris County Coalition for Homeless.