The School of Medicine is delighted to announce that alumnus and renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and leader Craig R. Smith (MED ‘77) will be the 2025 School of Medicine diploma ceremony speaker on Sunday, May 18, at Severance Music Center. Smith serves as the chair of the Department of Surgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital and is the Valentine Mott Professor of Surgery and Johnson & Johnson Distinguished Professor at the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University.
In addition to his distinguished medical career, Smith earned international attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for the daily inspirational messages he shared with his department. He served as a guiding light to many who followed his writing. Out of this grew his book, Nobility in Small Things: A Surgeon’s Path, which was released by St. Martin’s Press in 2023.
Among numerous honors and awards, Smith served as the 92nd president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 2012.
Early in his career, Smith led a successful program in heart-lung and lung transplantation that remains the major program in the New York region. Over time, his focus shifted to valve repair and replacement, coronary bypass procedures and operations involving the thoracic aorta. He was appointed chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Columbia in 1996 and chair of the Department of Surgery in 2010.
After completing his residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia Presbyterian, Smith joined the Columbia faculty in 1984. He received his postgraduate training in general surgery with a fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Rochester.
Smith graduated from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in 1977, where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College in 1970.
To learn more about Smith’s journey and incredible career, read this Think magazine article.