The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation welcomed UMass Medical School alum Heather Smith, MD, MPH, to the national philanthropic organization’s Board of Directors. Dr. Smith graduated from the School of Medicine in 2007. As an elected board member, she will contribute her expertise to advance the mission of the AMA Foundation by ensuring that the organization successfully raises, stewards and administers funds for high-impact public health programs.
“The AMA Foundation will benefit greatly from Dr. Smith’s commitment to inspiring and mentoring young people and extending health care services to the underserved,” said AMA Foundation President Edmond Cabbabe, MD. “Our mission and programs are an excellent match for her interests.”
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Smith cultivated an interest in community and public health while spending two years working for a number of nonprofit agencies in Boston’s underserved neighborhoods. Inspired to further her education, she went on to earn a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in social and behavioral sciences from Boston University and in 2002 enrolled at UMMS. She completed her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Partners HealthCare in Boston at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.
While at UMMS, Smith became an active member of the AMA. She is the 2005 Government Relations Advocacy Fellow in the AMA Washington office, where she represented physicians in training and medical students. She was the recipient of the prestigious AMA Foundation Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship in 2006 for her contribution to the advancement of the School of Medicine curriculum and dedication to public service. Additionally, she was a member of the AMA Council on Legislation and the Council on Medical Services, and has been a delegate to the AMA House of Delegates since 2008, most recently representing the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as their junior fellow representative. She also previously served as the vice chair and the alternate delegate for the Resident and Fellow section of the Council.
Smith completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program at Yale University and is currently living in New York City.
