Alex Smith, MD, is Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where he has taught since 2008 focused on palliative care and geriatrics. He is a Faculty Scholar Alum (Class of 2013) and a member of the Lo Award Committee (serving since its inception).
Dr. Smith’s research is deeply informed by clinical experiences and is focused on three interrelated areas: (1) estimating and communicating prognosis for life expectancy and other outcomes older adults care about (e.g. disability, institutionalization); (2) quality of life for persons who by traditional research measures (e.g. disability, dementia) have “failed” to “age successfully;” and (3) aligning health services and health policy with the needs of the very sick, the very frail, and the very old. A core theme that animates his work is the notion that, with appropriate support, a good quality of life is possible after the onset of disability or dementia.
Dr. Smith is the co-founder of the GeriPal blog and podcast and ePrognosis, an online compendium of prognostic indices for older adults. Working with bioethics thought leaders, Dr. Smith has published a series of conceptual ethical analyses in the New England Journal of Medicine on communicating prognosis, communicating uncertainty, elder self-neglect, dealing with racist patients, and the phenomena of rehabbing patients to death. Dr. Smith serves as Co-Editor in Chief at the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Bioethics & Prognosis