Brian Smith, MD

Brian R. Smith MD is Deputy Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at the Yale School of Medicine, as well as Co-Director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (Co-PI of Yale's CTSA Award), Chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Professor of Laboratory Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Yale University. He is the Chief of Laboratory Medicine and Attending Physician at Yale New Haven Hospital and also an attending physician at the Connecticut VA Medical Center and the Bridgeport Hospital.

Dr. Smith received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Princeton University, his medical degree from the Harvard Medical School, and his residency/fellowship training at The Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Dana Farber Cancer Center. He is board certified in Pathology / Hematopathology and in Internal Medicine / Hematology-Oncology. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Smith has an investigative interest in the inflammation-hemostasis interface, especially in relation to biomaterials, as well as in cellular immunotherapeutics, with over 175 publications. His work extends from basic wet bench research through clinical and epidemiological trials (T1-T4). He has been continuously funded by the NIH at the PI-level for over 35 years. 

In these various roles, Dr. Smith has major administrative responsibility for the School’s research enterprise across the T1-T4 spectrum, as well as educational responsibilities across the scientific pipeline from STEM high school student programs through undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate training, for MDs, PhDs, and MD/PhDs. He is the initiator and long-standing PI of Laboratory Medicine’s post-doctoral T32 training program in Immunohematology and has personally mentored over 50 MD, MD/PhD, and PhD trainees, most of whom hold tenure-track positions at major research universities. In addition to directing trainees in bench and translational research, Dr. Smith has extensive experience in the didactic aspects of comprehensive training and career development for clinician-scientists, having developed and published curricula in Laboratory Medicine, developed and published new physician-scientist training paradigms in his field, and, in his capacity as the Chair of the Research Committee for the Association of Pathology Chairs, initiated and helped negotiate a dialogue with the American Board of Pathology that, with the work of many other Chairs of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, resulted in the adoption of a specific Physician-Scientist residency pathway by the Board. Similarly, through his research experience, dean position, and appointment in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, he is very involved with all aspects of PhD training at both the pre- and post-doctoral levels. He has been an invited lecturer on Bioethics and previously served on the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. Dr. Smith has also played a significant role in gender equity initiatives at Yale. In addition, he has overseen the implementation of research core facilities in Translational Immune Monitoring, Flow Cytometry, and Clinical Sample Real Time Acquisition, chairs the Clinical Research Technology Committee, and has been a guiding member of a Cellular Therapy core resource, all of which have been used successfully by Yale investigators as well as by investigators from other universities.