Gordon Smith, MD, MB, MBChB, MPH

Stuart M. and Joyce N. Robbins Distinguished Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Public Health

Department:

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Classification:

Faculty

Adjunct Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Emergency Medicine

Classification:

Adjunct Faculty

I am a physician epidemiologist who specializes in injury research. I have received widespread recognition for methodological expertise in this field, especially in the use of databases for injury research (including data linkage), the development of injury surveillance systems, substance abuse and injuries including conducting hospital studies of trauma patients and field studies of alcohol and injuries.  I have a long history of funded research, including support from NIH, CDC, and the Department of Defense. I recently moved from the University of Maryland, Baltimore where I was part of a university-wide, Shock, Trauma and Anesthesiology Research Organized Research Center (STAR-ORC) and the National Study Center for Trauma & EMS (NSC). Here at West Virginia University as the Stuart M. and Joyce N. Robbins Distinguished Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Associate Director of the Clinical Research Design, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics Core (CRDEB) of the HIH funded West Virginia University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI).

I have directed large NIH funded grants on alcohol and injury fatality risk and have been conducting studies involving the UMB Shock Trauma Center trauma patients for many years with NIH and other support. These include a large study evaluating screening test for alcoholism among interviewed patients, studies of drug use among trauma patients that involved special specimen collection procedures, and a clinical trial of screening and brief intervention for alcohol problems among the patient population. My recent funding includes two NIH funded grants that involve studying substance abuse using patients from the trauma center. The first study of hangovers involved linking patient and urine biomarker data with several statewide databases including police crash records and medical examiner toxicology data. The other study is a cohort study to follow-up long-term mortality outcomes in trauma patients through linkage of the trauma registry data with the National Death Index. Here at WVU I am funded by NIDA to develop the toxicology databases from medical examiners offices in three states (West Virginia, Maryland and Washington) into a comprehensive drug database on traffic fatalities that can then be linked with the police crash reports. In addition, we have a large database of overdose fatalities from 2005 on that we have available for research. We have also just been funded to conduct a study of opioid related problems in the 8 southernmost counties of the state. This will involve GIS mapping of overdoses, hepatitis C HIV and other complications of IV drug use.