Laura Riley, M.D., was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. She received her undergraduate education at Harvard University. She received her medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh and completed her internship and residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pittsburgh-Magee Women's Hospital. She completed subspecialty training in maternal-fetal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and in infectious disease at Boston University Medical Center.

Dr. Riley has provided clinical service for approximately 10 years, working initially at Boston City Hospital seeing indigent, high-risk pregnant women with an emphasis on HIV disease in pregnancy. After four years, she joined the new obstetrical service at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she focuses on high-risk pregnancy with an emphasis on infectious disease complications of obstetrics. She also serves as the medical director of Labor and Delivery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Riley has participated in multiple research initiatives, including the Women and Infants Transmission Study, which is a natural history study of HIV in pregnancy. Nationally, she continues to be interested in projects related to infectious disease complications of pregnancy, serving as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control on perinatal HIV testing and the guidelines on the prevention of group B strep. She was the chair of the Obstetric Practice Committee at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for three years, a committee that writes guidelines for obstetric care. She was also a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Prematurity, which published the recent report entitled "Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention."

In addition to her clinical and research interests, Dr. Riley dedicates time to educate the general public about women's health issues. She has appeared on The Today Show and The Early Show several times, discussing various topics on women's health. She has been quoted in many major publications, including Newsweek, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. She has written two books on pregnancy for consumers, entitled "You and Your Baby: Pregnancy" and "You and Your Baby: Healthy Eating During Pregnancy" .