Laura Jackson-Cheng
Associate Partner, Catalyze Investments
Portfolio
Laura is responsible for project management across the Catalyze Investments team as well as programmatic and strategic support for the Health Equity and Equitable Education Recovery cohorts. She works closely with the team to ensure that New Profit’s portfolio of early-stage social entrepreneurs receive high-quality capacity-building support for their organizations and to build a strong peer-based learning community.
Growing up in a low-income community, Laura spent her youth volunteering at local nonprofits. In college, she had plans to become a physician caring for vulnerable populations. After interacting with patients, she realized many suffered from illnesses that could have been prevented with equitable access to resources such as nutritious food, safe housing, and employment. This encouraged her to learn more about the social determinants of health. During her Global Health Corps fellowship, Laura worked at the Boston Public Health Commission, where she helped develop and implement programs to reduce racial disparities in health outcomes. This was an eye-opening experience that helped her see the impact of systemic solutions to social issues and it encouraged her to work at New Profit to support innovative organizations with a mission of helping communities at a larger scale. Laura holds a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Yale University and a certification in nonprofit management and leadership from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University.