About

Dr. Smith is an active clinical cardiologist and clinical researcher. At UNC, he performs invasive cardiology procedures to assist with the management of a broad variety of cardiovascular problems, including coronary heart disease and valvular heart disease. He is also an attending physician for cardiac rehabilitation. He is a world-recognized expert on developing national and international guidelines for assessment of cardiovascular risk and for treatment of cardiovascular disorders including hypertension, cholesterol abnormalities, and acute coronary syndromes. He has been honored numerous times for his important contributions to address the impact of cardiovascular disease.

Dr Smith is a past president of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the World Heart Federation (WHF). He has served as a Senior Advisor and Chair of the Executive Committee for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health’s(NIH) Integrated Guidelines for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. He and has also served as the Chief Science Officer for the AHA. He chaired the ACC/AHA Task Force on Practice Guidelines, the ACC/AHA committee to revise PCI guidelines, the AHA/ACC Guidelines on Secondary Prevention for patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease and served on the ACC/AHA guideline committees for the management of acute myocardial infarction (STEMI), Blood Cholesterol, Risk Prediction, Lifestyle and Hypertension. Dr. Smith was Co-Chair of the ACC/AHA Bethesda Conference on Professionalism and Ethics.

Dr. Smith’s many awards include the AHA’s Physician of the Year Award, Distinguished National Leadership Award, Gold Heart Award, Eugene Drake Award, Joseph Stokes Award in Preventive Cardiology, Council of Clinical Cardiology Distinguished Achievement Award, Chairman’s Award, the James Herrick Distinguished Clinician Award, and the Ron Haddock International Impact Award as well as the Brazilian Cardiology Society International Teaching Award. Dr. Smith was also the recipient of the NHLBI/NIH Award of Special Recognition.

Dr. Smith has authored or co-authored close to 500 publications and has served on the editorial boards for the Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation and JAMA Cardiology. In 2017 he was noted on Thomson Reuters list of Highly Cited Researchers, which recognizes the top 1 percent of researchers in their field. He has spoken about heart disease and stroke in interviews with CNN, CBS, and NBC, and is quoted widely by multiple national and international media.

Each year since 1998, Dr. Smith has been elected to Best Doctors in America.
Men’s Health Chat with Dr. Sidney Smith
Reflections on Life and Career: Spotlight on Sidney C. Smith, Jr., MD