Dr. John W. Smith is a physician with more than 25 years of experience in general medicine, critical care, trauma, oncology, and reconstructive plastic surgery. His medical career began with training at several world-renowned institutions under the guidance of some of the most respected professionals in their fields. He completed his general surgery internship, residency, and chief residency at New York Medical College and St. Vincent’s Hospital & Medical Center in New York City. He went on to complete a Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at Weill Cornell Medical Center and NorthShore University Hospital.

Dr. Smith later joined the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he served as Resident and Chief Resident in Plastic and Hand Surgery. His postgraduate training also included advanced fellowships in reconstructive breast, head and neck, microsurgery oncology, and aesthetic surgery at both Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Smith has held several leadership and academic appointments. He served as Acting Assistant Director of Surgery at St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital in New York and has held faculty positions as Clinical Instructor in Surgery at New York Medical College and Adjunct Clinical Instructor at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine. His academic and clinical interests have led to published articles, book chapters, and presentations at local and international medical conferences.

In addition to his clinical and teaching work, Dr. Smith transitioned into healthcare communications, marketing, and medical education. He has served as Vice President and Senior Medical Director for several leading global agencies, including the Omnicom Health Group and Publicis Health Groupe. In these roles, he helped design medical strategies, education programs, and campaigns across a wide range of therapeutic areas, influencing both U.S. and global healthcare communication standards.

Today, Dr. Smith provides private healthcare consulting and navigation services to clients, helping individuals and families manage complex medical decisions with clarity, discretion, and personalized care. His work also extends into medical-legal consulting, where he reviews cases across multiple specialties to assess the merit of malpractice claims.

Dr. Smith is actively involved in his community. He has coached Little League baseball, AAU youth basketball, and mentors young men and women of color interested in medicine. He has served on the Board of Directors for Harlem Little League and currently contributes to the Central Harlem Senior Citizens Center as Chair of the Personnel and Officer Nominations Committees, and member of the Governance and Finance Committees.

Dr. Smith’s family history is deeply rooted in Red Bay, East End Tortola, British Virgin Islands. He is the youngest son of Olla E. Penn Smith and Cromwell Berrisford Smith Sr., and the proud brother of Cromwell B. Smith Jr. [Edju En Ka]. He spent his early years in the Albany Public Houses in Central Brooklyn, attending the Isaac Newton/Weeksville School, PS 243, Stephen Decatur Junior High, JHS 35, and Brooklyn Technical High School, where he majored in chemistry. He earned his undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences with a concentration in Molecular Biology from Colgate University and received his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

Dr. Smith now resides in Harlem, New York City, with his wife and their son, a college student and soccer player at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.