Dr. Smith holds the appointments of Professor in the Department of Radiology and Research Professor at the Missouri University Research Reactor at the University of Missouri. He also has an appointment as Research Health Scientist at the Truman VA, Columbia, MO. Dr. Smith has more than 20 years of research experience in radiopharmaceutical design and development including isotope processing and purification, tracer level metalation of small ligand frameworks and molecular cell-targeting agents, and in vitro and in vivo theranostic probe development. His current research interests are in the  design and development of monovalent and bivalent analogs and nanoparticles of gastrin releasing peptide (GRP), prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), and RGD (arginine-glycine-glutamic acid) radiolabeled with In-111, Y-86/90, Lu-177, Au-198/199, Ga-67/68, and Cu-64.

Dr. Smith is currently funded by an ongoing VA Merit Review Award mechanism and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering). He has an extensive publication record in numerous peer-reviewed journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Current Radiopharmaceuticals, Cancer Research, Bioconjugate Chemistry, Nuclear Medicine and Biology, and the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Smith’s H-index, a numerical value assigned to describe the impact of his work, is currently 34.