Biography: Susan S. Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., a nationally respected cardiologist, researcher, and leader in academic medicine in Arkansas and other states, beloved by family, friends, and colleagues, died Dec. 31, 2022, after a battle with cancer. She was 57.
 
Dr. Smyth had served since June 2021 as executive vice chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and dean of the UAMS College of Medicine. In these roles, she created and expanded numerous initiatives to improve health in Arkansas and increase the college’s national standings in primary care and other aspects of education, research and clinical care. The pursuit of health equity, diversity and inclusion was a top priority under Susan’s leadership.
 
Among many honors, in November 2022 Dr. Smyth was invested as the Arkansas Medical Society Distinguished Dean’s Chair, which as an endowed chair is the highest academic honor a university can bestow upon a member of its faculty. 
 
Dr. Smyth’s tenure in Arkansas followed a distinguished career at other institutions including the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, where she served on the faculty for 15 years and was the Jeff Gill Professor of Cardiology, chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, and director of the Gill Heart and Vascular Institute in 2011-2021. She also served as a cardiologist and funded investigator for the VA Health Care System. She was a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, past president of the Association of University Cardiologists and served on the CTSA Steering Committee for the National Center for Advancing Translational Science. Dr. Smyth authored more than 200 publications and contributed to over a dozen textbooks.
 
Susan was born and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the daughter of Richard Smyth, a philosophy professor, and Luan Smyth, a schoolteacher and homemaker. By the time she was a senior in high school, she knew she wanted to become both a physician and scientist.
 
Susan graduated from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Arts in biology before earning both a medical degree and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Dr. Smyth completed an internal medicine residency, including a year as chief resident, at University Medical Center in Stony Brook, New York, and cardiology fellowships at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York and the University of North Carolina, where she joined the faculty in 2001.
 
In 1988, Susan met Andrew Morris, Ph.D. They were married in 1992 and continued to pursue their shared love of science and careers in research and medicine together while raising their family.  Susan and Andrew established and directed an internationally known cardiovascular disease research program as faculty at the universities of North Carolina, Kentucky, and finally UAMS and as funded investigators with the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. Susan was particularly proud of her 18 years of service and care she was able to provide for veterans as an attending physician at the Lexington, Kentucky and Central Arkansas Veterans Affairs Healthcare systems.
 
Dr. Smyth is survived by her husband; sons Edward and William; her mother; and her brothers, Nathan and James.
 
Susan was remembered in a private family service this week. UAMS will hold a memorial service and celebration of her life and career soon, with details to be announced soon.
 
Memorial gifts in honor of Susan’s legacy may be made to the UAMS Foundation Fund, designated for the “Dean Susan S. Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., Fund for Excellence in Medicine.” Gifts can be made online at giving.uams.edu, or mailed to UAMS Advancement, 4301 W. Markham ST, # 716, Little Rock AR  72205.  Arrangements are under the direction of RuebelFuneralHome.com