Dr Smith is Professor of Medicine, and Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Science and Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his MD degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiology at Harvard Medical School/Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to joining the faculty of the University of North Carolina, Dr Smith was Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and Director of the San Diego Cardiac Center at Sharp Healthcare. He also served as Director of the Cardiovascular Laboratories at the University of Colorado. From 1994 to 2001 he served as Chief of Cardiology at the University of North Carolina.

Dr Smith served as national President of the American Heart Association (AHA) from 1995 to 1996, and as the first Chief Science Officer of the AHA from 2001 to 2003. His service with the AHA spans 2 decades and includes work at all levels of the organization and with three different AHA affiliates. He has been a member of several national committees with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and has been active in the development of ACC/AHA Practice Guidelines. Currently, he serves as Chair of the ACC/AHA Committee to Revise PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) Guidelines and is Co-Chair of the ACC/AHA Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Dr Smith is a member of the editorial boards for Circulation, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the Journal of Interventional Cardiology, the American Heart Journal, and the American College of Cardiology Education and Learning Program. He also served on the medical advisory board for the Time-Life Medical Series.The author of more than 200 articles and book chapters, Dr Smith presents regularly at scientific meetings and guest lectures. He has spoken about heart disease and stroke in interviews with CNN, CBS, NBC, and many national newspapers. Dr. Smith currently serves as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the World Heart Federation and as Chairman of the World Heart Forum.

In 1993 Dr Smith was honored as the AHA’s Physician of the Year and in 1996 received the association’s Distinguished National Leadership Award. Yearly since 1998 he has been elected to “Best Doctors in America.” In 2000 he was awarded the prestigious Gold Heart Award by the AHA. In 2003, he received an award of Special Recognition from NHLBI.

The focus of Dr Smith’s academic work has been on lipoprotein abnormalities, reperfusion therapies for acute myocardial infarction, the medical management of unstable angina pectoris and the metabolic syndrome. He is currently evaluating the role of guidelines and performance measures to improve primary and secondary prevention efforts in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.