Dr. Susan Smyth is a physician scientist who combines clinical practice in cardiology with NIH- , VA-, and industry-funded research focused on the interplay between inflammation and thrombosis in vascular biology. Her training and expertise center around the contribution of extracellular mediators and blood and vascular cell-surface signaling receptors. Her team applies genetic and pharmacologic strategies in animal models of cardiovascular disease, in order to define cellular and molecular pathways, and then tests those pathways in clinical studies in humans. Her clinical interests are in arterial and venous thrombosis, and she leads an enterprise-wide effort in thrombosis prevention and management.  She has authored more than 150 publications and contributed to over a dozen textbooks. 

Smyth received her A.B. in Biology, summa cum laude, from Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, Massachusetts), and graduated from the MD/PhD Program at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC). As a graduate student, she studied activation of the platelet integrin αIIbβ3.  After completing training in Internal Medicine, she performed cardiology subspecialty fellowship training at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, New York) and at the University of North Carolina.  While a fellow at Mount Sinai, Smyth established animal models to study platelet and other cell-surface receptors in thrombosis and vascular biology.  During this time, she developed an interest in understanding the interesection of thrombosis and inflammation based on observations of platelet – leukocyte interactions in models of vascular disease. Smyth joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Physiology in 2001. During her tenure at UNC, her group expanded their research to understanding of the role of bioactive, extracellular lysolipids in vascular biology.  She joined the faculty of at the University of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky) in 2006 and currently holds appointments in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Pharmacology, Physiology, and Behavioral Sciences.  Smyth is part of a research team whose work spans molecular, preclinical and clinical models, with an aim to connect discovery science to prevent cardiovascular disease and promote health.

To learn more about Dr. Smyth, click here

For Dr. Smyth's clinical page, click here 

To read more about the research, click here