As physician-in-chief, Dr. Smith is the health system’s senior physician on all clinical issues. He previously served as North Shore-LIJ’s chief medical officer. Dr. Smith is the founding dean of the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, whose first class began its studies in August 2011.
Dr. Smith joined North Shore-LIJ in May 2005 as chief academic officer and senior vice president of academic affairs. In this capacity, Dr. Smith strengthened the health system’s graduate medical education programs and expanded medical school affiliations, significantly enhancing North Shore-LIJ’s ability to recruit medical students and residents. In addition, Dr. Smith was responsible for overseeing the health system’s medical student education programs and academic faculty appointments. He was also accountable for establishing close relationships with doctors and hospitals throughout North Shore-LIJ that enhanced the health system’s partnerships with staff and community-based physicians, and improved physician recruitment efforts.
Before joining North Shore-LIJ, Dr. Smith was at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, where he served as dean (beginning in 2002) and chairman of medical education, founder and director of the school’s Institute for Medical Education, professor of medicine and an attending physician. He joined the faculty of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1994 as vice chairman of the Department of Medicine and residency program director.
Prior to his career at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Smith practiced general medicine at Stony Brook University Hospital, where he became a full-time faculty member, director of education and program director of the hospital’s residency program in internal medicine. He began his career practicing general internal medicine in Huntington, NY.
Dr. Smith has held senior leadership positions in national societies for medical education and residency training, authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in the area of medical education, and has received many awards and honors from national and international organizations. He is a member-at-large of the National Board of Medical Examiners and a member of the Board of Visitors of Fordham College. Also, he is a former regent of the American College of Physicians and former member of the board of directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine. In April 2011, Dr. Smith was elected to Mastership of the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Smith is the first recipient of the Lawrence Scherr, MD, Professorship of Medicine at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. He was honored with the 2008 Dema C. Daly Founders Award by the Association of Program Directors of Internal Medicine, of which he is a former president. In addition, he was awarded the Solomon A. Berson Alumni Achievement Award in Health Science by New York University School of Medicine.
Dr. Smith earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Fordham University and a medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. His residency in internal medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital was followed by military service as a captain in the Army Medical Corps at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver.
