Announcing the Interim Chair of the Department of Global Health
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Emily Smith, current tenured associate professor in both the Departments of Global Health and Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, as the new Interim Chair of the Department of Global Health.
Following Dr. Christoper Mores’ appointment to the Interim Senior Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, Dr. Smith will step into the Interim Chair role on August 15, 2025.
Many thanks to the faculty of the Department of Global Health for their support as we search for a new Chair, as well as the willingness of members of the faculty to step forward to serve as Interim Chair. We are fortunate that there are members of the departmental faculty who are excellent professors with appropriate academic standing and experience.
We are incredibly grateful for Dr. Smith’s willingness to step into leadership for the Department of Global Health during this pivotal time for our faculty and students, the industry, and research enterprise. Dr. Smith earned her B.A. in anthropology and international studies with a minor in global health from Northwestern University; her M.P.H. in global environmental health from Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University; and her Sc.D. in global health and population from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Following her post-doctoral training at Harvard and Boston Children’s, and serving as Research Associate at Harvard, she served as a Program Officer, Nutrition & Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Discovery Tools at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Emily joined the GWSPH faculty in September 2019.
Dr. Smith’s research at GWSPH focuses on infection and nutrition across the life course, with a goal of generating, analyzing, and translating epidemiological data to improve maternal, newborn, and child health in low- and middle-income countries. She has worked on the design, implementation, and analysis of randomized trials, surveillance, and health service program evaluations in Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Bolivia, Peru, Rwanda, Uganda, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and the U.S. to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of health interventions. She has worked closely with WHO to synthesize and translate evidence for use in global policy contexts on topics including: risk of SARS-CoV-2 in pregnancy; mother-to-child transmission of SARS-CoV-2; efficacy and safety of neonatal vitamin A supplementation, and interventions for care and feeding of low birthweight infants. As an epidemiologist, her technical expertise includes study design and data analysis for randomized trials, surveillance, and conducting meta-analyses. She is a highly engaged professor with a wonderful track record for teaching and mentoring students.
We look forward to working with Dr. Smith, and know her leadership will be greatly appreciated across the Department of Global Health.
Sincerely,
Lynn R. Goldman
Michael and Lori Milken Dean
Jane Hyatt Thorpe
Senior Associate Dean for Academic, Student and Faculty Affairs