Barry H. Smith, MD, PhD

Board Secretary

Dr. Barry Smith has a strong personal commitment to the development of an equitable, multi-sectoral model for health-system reform that fosters “wellness”. Such a system must enrich the quality of life and unleash the tremendous human potential of people living in underserved communities. What are commonly called the “social determinants of health” must be turned into “social opportunities for change for better health.”

Dr. Smith is currently President of the Dreyfus Health Policy and Research Center (Applied Medical Research, Inc., affiliated with Dialysis Clinic, Inc). He has also served as the Deputy Chief of Surgical Neurology at The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (1983-88), as the Director of the Dreyfus Health Foundation (DHF) in New York City, and with The Rogosin Institute as a staff member from 1988-2008, and then its President and CEO, and active clinical investigator until March, 2020.

Dr. Smith received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, his PhD in Molecular Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his MD from Cornell University Medical College with residency training at New York Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Smith is the author of more than 140 scientific and clinical papers, Co-Editor of Elsevier's Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, and an Editor of Problem Solving for Better Health: A Global Perspective (Springer), as well as New Delta Rising: A Tribute to the People of the Mississippi Delta (Universities of Mississippi Press). He is a member of multiple professional societies.