Dr. Sidney Crawley Smith is an eminent cardiologist and globally recognized authority in cardiovascular medicine with over five decades of clinical and research expertise. He currently serves as Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a position he has held continuously since 1994, and previously led the Division of Cardiology from 1994 to 2001. Dr. Smith earned his medical degree from Yale Medical School before completing his medical internship, residency, and cardiology fellowship at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women's Hospital) at Harvard Medical School in Boston. His distinguished clinical career spans more than 50 years in the catheterization laboratory, with 27 of those years dedicated to patient care at UNC Hospitals where he performed invasive procedures throughout his tenure.
Dr. Smith has established himself as a world-renowned expert in developing national and international guidelines for cardiovascular risk assessment and the management of conditions including hypertension, cholesterol abnormalities, and acute coronary syndromes. He has chaired pivotal committees including the ACC/AHA Task Force on Practice Guidelines, the ACC/AHA committee revising PCI guidelines, and the AHA/ACC Guidelines on Secondary Prevention for patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease. His scholarly contributions encompass authoring or co-authoring more than 400 published papers and chapters that have fundamentally shaped clinical practice standards worldwide. Dr. Smith's methodological approach to evidence-based medicine has transformed how cardiovascular care is standardized and implemented across diverse healthcare systems through rigorous guideline development.
As a past president of both the American Heart Association and the World Heart Federation, Dr. Smith has profoundly influenced cardiovascular health policy at the highest international levels and served as Chief Science Officer for the American Heart Association. He has provided strategic guidance as a Senior Advisor to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for the development of cardiovascular prevention guidelines and continues to co-chair major international initiatives. Dr. Smith maintains an active clinical practice while mentoring UNC residents and fellows and increasing his involvement with national and international quality improvement programs. His enduring commitment to advancing cardiovascular care through evidence-based practice ensures his continued impact on both current clinical standards and the education of future generations of cardiovascular specialists.
