Laurie Carson has spent more than twenty-five years in the not-for-profit sector. Much of that time was dedicated to serving on the Board of The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK). During her tenure, she chaired three Annual Appeals, raising funds for research in the Departments of Thoracic Oncology, Neurology, and Dermatology. She served on the Executive Committee for six years and as President from 2001–2003. From 2001–2008, she was selected as one of three lay individuals to serve on MSK’s Institutional Review Board.

Mrs. Carson became a tireless advocate for lung cancer research after losing both her brother (a non-smoker) and her uncle (a former smoker) to the disease in 2000. She launched Steps for Breath, the first run–walk for lung cancer research in the country. In its first five years, the initiative raised $1.7 million for thoracic oncology studies at MSK. Building on the success of Steps for Breath, Mrs. Carson founded the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) to expand her efforts nationally. She served as Chairman of LCRF from 2005 to 2015.

After her husband, Bill, retired from the financial industry, they moved to Scottsdale, Arizona. Mrs. Carson joined the Board of the Barrow Neurological Foundation, where she chairs the Grants Committee. In 2025, she introduced a new initiative to Barrow—The Barrow Open—whose proceeds helped establish the Sports Biomechanics Spine Lab. Before beginning her work in the not-for-profit sector, Mrs. Carson worked as a medical technologist in the clinical chemistry and hematology laboratories at NY Hospital and the Hospital for Special Surgery.