Bio
Dr. Smith is a board-certified, fellowship-trained medical oncologist and hematologist. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine in the Division of Blood & Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.
She is also a physician-scientist who conducts extensive research. As a medical student, she completed a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Clinical Research Training (now, the Medical Research Scholars) Program. Subsequently, following her clinical fellowship, she was a post-doctoral researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The research in her lab focuses on investigations of the biology of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells to improve the efficacy and safety of this therapy (1) by investigating donor (Nature Medicine, 2017) and off-the-shelf CAR T cells in mouse models and (2) by assessing mechanisms for the impact of the intestinal microbiome on CAR T cell response (Nature Medicine, 2022).
Dr. Smith presents the findings of her research at regional, national, and international conferences. Further, she has co-authored articles on topics within the field of cancer immunology, including cancer immunotherapy, stem cell transplantation, and CAR T cell therapy. Her work has appeared in journals, among others Nature, Nature Immunology, Nature Medicine, Blood, and Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. She serves a peer reviewer for publications in journals, such as NEJM Evidence, Science Advances, Blood, Cancer Cell, and Molecular Therapy. She also has contributed to chapters in books, including Pocket Oncology, Current Concepts and Controversies in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, and Advanced Concepts in Human Immunology: Prospects for Disease Control.
She has earned numerous honors; the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and several other professional organizations have recognized her achievements as a clinician, researcher, and scholar.
Dr. Smith is a member of the ASH Committee on Emerging Gene and Cell Therapies and the ASH Committee on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Additionally, she serves on committees within the institution and professional organizations focused on promoting diversity among hematology and cell therapy specialists.
