Donald A. Smith

Biography

Director of Lipids and Metabolism, Cardiology, The Zena and Michael A. Weiner Cardiovascular Institute and The Marie-Jos?e and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health

Dr. Smith is the only endocrinologist associated with the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, and Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health. His major interest in this role is in the prevention of thromboembolic atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks, strokes and peripheral vascular disease. His particular clinical interest is primarily in lipid disorders, but also involves diabetes, and obesity. By controlling such risk factors in individuals, one can reduce one??s long-term risk for such diseases.

Dr. Smith writes extensively concerning lipid disorders and has just complete editing a fourteen-chapter, 2-volume issue of Clinics in Laboratory Medicine on Risk Factors in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease. He just had published a comprehensive article on statin therapy for Current Molecular Medicine.

His research has been predominantly involvement in numerous clinical trials most of which have involved lowering cholesterol with statins to show the preventive efficacy and safety of these medications. Other studies have involved measuring the improvement in physicians?? ability to lower cholesterol levels as progress has been made in this area, and the lack of improvement in such behavior in simply providing electronic tools to track patient progress. He has also studied various measures of obesity in their relative ability to predict coronary heart disease.

He is an active member of the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association. He is currently Treasurer and a Board member of the Northeast Lipid Association, an important regional association of the National Lipid Association, a group interested in educating physicians on how best to manage lipid (cholesterol/triglyceride) disorders. In February 2006 he was CoChairman of the annual scientific session of the National Lipid Association.

He is an active member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and has been a member of the writing groups involved in guidelines on the metabolic syndrome and on lipids. He is also the current lipid??s section editor for the Association??s Self-Assessment Profile in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

In the News

Dr. Smith discusses lipid disorders in The Daily News feature The Daily Check Up.
View the PDF.