Kelly Smith (MedStar Health Research Institute) Kelly Smith, PhD, is research director, Quality and Safety, MedStar Health Research Institute. Previously she was faculty, Master of Science in Patient Safety Leadership; director, Office of Continuing Medical Education; and research assistant professor, Medicine and Medical Education, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago.
Dr. Smith enjoys mentoring young investigators and is excited about working on a world-class safety/quality research arm for MedStar Health. Her work and training at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada), has given her a strong background in research methodologies. She is passionate about patient safety and quality healthcare, and she has experience as the senior research fellow and founding member for the Institute for Patient Safety Excellence. Her experience also includes directing, teaching and mentoring students in a patient safety leadership Master of Science program. Her accomplishments include being named one of the top ten doctoral students in Canada and winning the Margaret McWilliams Predoctoral Fellowship, an honor awarded to the top female doctoral student in Canada. During her career, she has mentored more than 30 students in patient safety research.
Dr. Smith serves as a reviewer for the British Medical Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine and Heart. She also has served as a peer reviewer for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; and the American Heart Association. She has published more than 25 articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as Simulation in Healthcare, Heart and the Journal of Quality and Safety in Health Care. She frequently presents her research at professional meetings, speaking on topics ranging from “Resident Comfort and Skills in Telehealth Communication” to “Changes in Quality of Life and Social Support After Cardiac Rehabilitation.” She is certified in Online Instruction by the University of Illinois.
She holds memberships in several professional associations, including the Alliance on Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the American Heart Association, the Canadian Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation and the Institutes for Healthcare Improvement. She is a member of the State of Illinois Health Information Exchange Task Force on Telehealth and the University of Illinois Vice Chancellor’s Committee for Biomedical and Health Informatics Research.
She received an MSc in Physiology and a PhD in Medical Sciences (Physiology and Pharmacology) from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.