Christopher Smith, MD
Co-director, Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education
Rabkin Fellow in Medical Education
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Fellowship Project:
Development of a physical exam and procedural skill curriculum to improve common physical exam skills and minor office-based procedures
Dr. Christopher Smith is a general internist in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medial Center and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He received a BS degree in biology with presidential honors in 1992 from Loyola University and received his MD degree from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 1999 and was awarded the Lowell B. McGee Award for excellence in teaching. After serving as chief medical resident, Dr. Smith completed the Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education. As part of his fellowship project, he developed a curriculum to improve resident and student physical examination and ambulatory procedure skills. He also created a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of this curriculum, with pre- and post-assessments of skills and knowledge through both written case-based exercises and an objective structured clinical examination.
Dr. Smith is actively involved in teaching at both BIDMC and HMS. He is Co-director of the Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education, Associate Director of the Medical Residency Training Program at BIDMC, the Associate Firm Chief of the Blumgart Medical Firm, and a Resource Faculty Member in Medical Education for the Department Medicine. These roles allow him to be extensively involved in the education and mentoring of faculty, medical residents and medical students. He has also served as Program Chair for the Society of General Internal Medicine Regional Conference, presents at many regional and national CME conferences, and co-directs a new comprehensive ABIM recertification course presented by the ACP.
In addition, Dr. Smith is a lead investigator of a study to better teach medical procedures and reduce medical procedural errors. Through the creation of a new model of education and assessment of resident inpatient procedure skills, he and his co-investigators have improved upon the traditional "see one, do one, teach one" method of teaching medical procedures, enhanced patient safety, and allowed a unique examination and assessment of clinical competence in common medical procedures. Most recently, this work has been expanded to assess the utilization of simulation technology to teach and assess central venous line placement.
In addition to his educational roles, Dr. Smith served as the associate medical director of Healthcare Associates, the internal medicine teaching practice at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He maintains an active clinical practice, caring for a large and diverse population of primary care patients in both the outpatient and inpatient setting.
In 2002, Dr. Smith was the recipient of the Herman L. Blumgart Faculty Award, which is given in recognition of the faculty member who has contributed the most to housestaff education and professional development during the academic year. In 2005, he was honored to be the recipient of the Society of General Internal Medicine New England Region Medical Educator of the Year. Most recently he was awarded the Society of General Internal Medicine National Award for Scholarship in Medical Education, as well as the S. Robert Stone Award for Excellence in Teaching Harvard Medical Students.