Laura W. Synnott

From 2004-2008, she also served as Executive Director of Health Care Programs at Heinz, and her responsibilities included the Master of Medical Management (MMM) and Master of Science of Health Care Policy and Management (MSHCPM) degree programs.

Professor Synnott teaches Project Management to students throughout the Heinz College. Additionally, she teaches Health Care Management and advises Systems Synthesis projects for students in the MSHCPM program, and teaches a capstone course, Managing Mergers, Alliances and Divestitures to the physicians enrolled in the MMM degree program..

In addition to her position on the Carnegie Mellon faculty, Synnott is the founder and principal of a management consulting firm providing services to health care providers in the areas of operations, project management and strategy development. She has over twenty five years of executive management experience in health care organizations. Synnott’s past experience includes several years as a hospital operations vice president overseeing ancillary and support departments as well as construction management activities. She oversaw a team of managers with responsibility for over four hundred employees and $40 million in expenses. Synnott was also responsible for managing the hospital medical services office for a 600-physician medical staff organization.

Professor Synnott is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), and in 2007 and 2008 served as Chair of the Health Care Section of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). She previously served as Chair of the Committee on Healthcare Operations and Management of the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania.

Synnott serves on the Board of Directors of Presbyterian SeniorCare (PSC), a non-profit provider of a wide range of living and care options for the elderly in western Pennsylvania, and chairs the board strategy committee. She is also on the board of SeniorCare Network, a non-profit business affiliate of PSC which owns and manages residential communities for seniors and persons with disabilities.

Synnott teaches project management for the American College of Healthcare Executives as well as the American College of Physician Executives. She also teaches program management for Carnegie Mellon’s CIO Institute. In addition to being a member of the Project Management Institute, Synnott is a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) in the Scrum Alliance, an organization focused on agile project management practices.