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Dr. LaPlante is the Dean at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy and also an adjunct professor of medicine at Brown University. She is a pharmacist-scientist, an infectious diseases pharmacotherapy specialist, research fellowship director, and research program director of the Rhode Island Infectious Diseases (RIID) research program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Providence, RI. 

As a Buffalo native she earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology, and a Psychology minor at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, a BS in Biopharmaceutical Sciences, and a Doctor of Pharmacy from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.  She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy at the Anti-Infective Research Laboratory at Wayne State University, where she served as the Wayne County Pharmacy Association President, and received Young Pharmacists of the Year in Michigan.

She is a past president of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP), current vice-president for Making a Difference in Infectious Diseases (MAD-ID), and an elected Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, American College of Clinical Pharmacy and SIDP.  She serves as an editor for Pharmacotherapy and Clinical Infectious Diseases.  Dr. LaPlante is also the appointed chairperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Antimicrobial Stewardship and Environmental Task Force. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was appointed to the COVID-19 vaccine subcommittee by the governor of Rhode Island.

Dr. LaPlante is an internationally recognized infectious diseases pharmacist, educator, researcher, and policy adviser with an expertise in antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance. She is on the frontline of the antimicrobial resistance public health crisis, leading statewide initiatives and providing analysis of key frontline issues as an advisor to the Centers of Diseases Control and Prevention, PEW Research Center, and The Joint Commission. She currently serves as chairperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Antimicrobial Stewardship and Environmental Task Force, where she led the Rhode Island Antimicrobial Stewardship Expansion Initiative.  In this role, she created guidance and provided education for Antimicrobial Stewardship across Acute Care, Long Term Care, and Urgent Care facilities throughout the State of Rhode Island, specifically for the CVS Minute Clinics Provider meeting at the CVS National Headquarters in Rhode Island.  

She advocates for the profession, with annual visits to Capitol Hill encouraging increased funding for infectious diseases research and expansion of pharmacy services.   Dr. LaPlante has received the Pharmacists of the Year in the State of Rhode Island from the Rhode Island Society of Health-System Pharmacists.   And she is known for her extensive partnership building spanning the Veterans Affairs National Office, the Rhode Island Department of Health, and serving as a Global Advisor for Pfizer and Merck's Research & Developments programs.

Dr. LaPlante is also internationally known for her expertise in antibiotic therapy and has extensively researched biofilms and how optimal antimicrobial use prevents resistance and improves patient outcomes.  And has given over 100 invited lectures globally and published over 140 peer-reviewed articles throughout her career in high impact peer-reviewed journals such as Clinical Infectious Diseases, Antimicrobial Agents, and Chemotherapy, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Pharmacotherapy. Her contributions include authorship on the 2021 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) C. difficile treatment guidelines.  She has also published a book titled "Antimicrobial Stewardship Principles and Practices," available on Amazon.  Her RIID research program has received continuous, uninterrupted funding since 2005 and implemented research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Investigator-Initiated Research within the pharmaceutical industry.  She currently serves as the Director of the Pharmacology Core on the Rhode Island NIH-COBRE Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Therapeutic Discovery (1P20GM121344-01A1) and as a member of the Antimicrobial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG), pharmacokinetics subcommittee. Her research is pharmacist-led, multidisciplinary work that encompasses her colleagues in nursing, medicine, and Ph.D. colleagues.