Pulse

New dermatology chairs hails from Harvard

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Gideon Smith, MD, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been named chair of Dermatology at Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences Eastern Virginia Medical School at Old Dominion University. He will also hold an appointment in the School of Public Health. Dr. Smith will begin his new duties this summer.

“Dr. Smith comes to us after 14 years on the Dermatology faculty at Harvard Medical School, where he was the founding director of the interdisciplinary Rheum-Derm clinic and the Autoimmune Connective Tissue Diseases Fellowship,” said Alfred Abuhamad, MD, executive vice president for health sciences. “A board-certified dermatologist, he brings key leadership experience from Massachusetts General Hospital where he has led the department as the medical director and vice chief for Clinical Affairs and a hospital quality chair, spearheading innovations in high-quality care.”

A native of Great Britain, Dr. Smith completed his Ph.D. in Physics at Leeds University. He then taught and performed research at Harvard University and Washington University in St Louis.

He began his medical career at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he earned his MD followed by an internship in internal medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center, N.Y. Dr. Smith completed his residency training in dermatology at NYU, Langone Medical Center, N.Y., where he was the Sulzberger Fellow specializing in connective tissue diseases and scleroderma. He also holds an M.P.H. from Harvard School of Public Health and is a graduate of the Physician Leadership Development Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Smith is a highly regarded physician-scientist and is published in both the clinical dermatology and rheumatology journals, as well as in leading basic science journals such as Science. He is the author of over 120 articles in peer-reviewed publications and more than 20 book chapters in leading medical texts on topics from autoimmune fibrosis, and immunotherapies to systemic contact dermatitis.

Currently, Dr Smith's research focuses on issues of public health, quality improvement and patient safety. He serves on several committees with the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Board of Dermatology related to setting national standards in this area. Dr. Smith’s clinical and lab research has examined the pathogenesis of scleroderma and the development of new treatments for psoriasis, which has been presented at international conferences, and he has received several prizes in recognition of this work.

Dr. Smith follows Clinton Enos, MD, (MD ’16, Dermatology Residency ’21), who has been interim chair.

“I want to thank Dr. Enos for his service during this time of transition,” Dr. Abuhamad said.