She examines the shifting discourses and practices that have shaped illness and disease across time and place. Her current work considers how disease control is negotiated within Southern California through an examination of the practices and discourses of local public health infrastructures and the frictions between globally mandated tuberculosis protocols and the efforts of local agencies. Bringing together ethnographic observation of public health practices in Southern California with research on tuberculosis control policy, Laurel engages the moments of possibility that exist within and beyond formally disseminated protocols, including better accounting for the experiences of communities who are often excluded from the conversation altogether.