Sidney Smith

Sidney C. Smith, Jr., MD, FAHA, FESC, FACP, MACC

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology

Specialty Areas

Invasive cardiology; coronary heart disease; preventive cardiology; valvular heart disease; cardiac rehabilitation.

Education and Experience

MD: Yale University; Internship, residency (Internal Medicine), fellowship (Cardiology): Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women’s)/Harvard Medical School.

Board Certified Internal Medicine, Board Certified Cardiovascular Disease

Former Faculty Positions

Harvard Medical School; University of Colorado Medical School; University of California-San Diego.

University of North Carolina Appointments

Professor of Medicine, UNC-Chapel Hill (1994-present); Chief, Division of Cardiology, UNC-Chapel Hill (1994-2001)

Clinical and Research Interests

Dr. Smith is an active clinical cardiologist and clinical researcher. He is a world-recognized expert on developing national and international guidelines for assessment of cardiovascular risk and for treatment of cardiovascular disorders including hypertension, cholesterol abnormalities, and acute coronary syndromes.

At UNC, he performs invasive cardiology procedures to assist with the management of a broad variety of cardiovascular problems, including coronary heart disease and valvular heart disease.

He also sees outpatients at UNC for the treatment of coronary heart disease and valvular heart disease and is an attending physician for cardiac rehabilitation.

Dr. Smith is a past president of the American Heart Association and the World Heart Federation. He has served as a senior advisor to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and has been honored numerous times for his important contributions to address the impact of cardiovascular disease. His awards include the Eugene H. Drake Memorial Award (American Heart Association, 2003), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Award of Special Recognition (2003), the Joseph Stokes Award (American Society for Preventive Cardiology, 2013), the AHA Council on Clinical Cardiology’s Distinguished Achievement Award (2013), and the Ron Haddock AHA/ASA International Impact Award (2015).

Dr. Smith has authored or co-authored more than 350 published papers and chapters and has served on the editorial boards for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation, JAMA Cardiology, the Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine, and the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology.

Each year since 1998, Dr. Smith has been elected to Best Doctors in America.

Selected Bibliography

Smith SC Jr, Chen D, Collins A, Harold JG, Jessup M, Josephson S, Logstrup S, Jur C, Sacco RL, Vardas PE, Wood DA, Zoghbi WA. Moving from political declaration to action on reducing the global burden of cardiovascular diseases: a statement from the global cardiovascular disease taskforce. Circulation, 2013. 128(23):2546-8. See also: J Am Coll Cardiol, 2013. 62(22):2151-3 and Eur Heart J, 2013.

Zoghbi WA, Duncan T, Antman E, Barbosa M, Champagne B, Chen D, Gamra H, Harold JG, Josephson S, Komajda M, Logstrup S, Mayosi BM, Mwangi J, Ralston J, Sacco RL, Sim KH, Smith SC Jr, Vardas PE, Wood DA. Sustainable Development goals and the future of cardiovascular health: a statement from the Global Cardiovascular Disease Taskforce. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2014. 64(13):1385-7.

Levine GN, Jeong YH, Goto S, Anderson JL, Huo Y, Mega JL, Taubert K, Smith SC Jr. Expert consensus document: World Heart Federation expert consensus statement on antiplatelet therapy in East Asian patients with ACS or undergoing PCI. Nat Rev Cardiol, 2014. 11(10):597-606.

Stone NJ, Merz CN, Watson KE, Smith SC Jr. Getting guidelines correct: their evidence-based recommendations for use of nonstatins added to statins and the need for follow-up lipid testing. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2015 12;65(18):2051-2.

Wang Y, Li Z, Xian Y, Zhao X, Li H, Shen H, Wang C, Liu L, Wang C, Pan Y, Wang D, Prvu Bettger J, Fonarow GC, Schwamm LH, Smith SC Jr, Peterson ED, Wang Y; GOLDEN BRIDGE–AIS investigators. Rationale and design of a cluster-randomized multifaceted intervention trial to improve stroke care quality in China: The GOLDEN BRIDGE-Acute Ischemic Stroke. Am Heart J. 2015;169(6):767-774.e2.

Jeong YH, Smith SC Jr, Gurbel PA. Long-Term Use of Ticagrelor in Patients with Prior Myocardial Infarction. N Engl J Med. 2015. 24;373(13):1273-4.

Dai X, Kaul P, Smith SC Jr, Stouffer GA. Predictors, treatment, and outcomes of STEMI occurring in hospitalized patients. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2016. (3):148-54.

Lloyd-Jones DM, Morris PB, Ballantyne CM, Birtcher KK, Daly DD Jr, DePalma SM, Minissian MB, Orringer CE, Smith SC Jr. 2016 ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway on the Role of Non-Statin Therapies for LDL-Cholesterol Lowering in the Management of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Task Force on Clinical Expert Consensus Documents. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016. pii: S0735-1097(16)32398-1.

Smith SC Jr, Grundy SM. 2013 ACC/AHA guideline recommends fixed-dose strategies instead of targeted goals to lower blood cholesterol. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2014. 64(6):601-12.

Smith SC Jr, Bittner V, Gaziano JM, Giacomini JC, Pack QR, Polk DM. COCATS 4 Task Force 2: Training in Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2015. pii: S0735-1097(15)00825-6.

Smith SC Jr. Adherence to Medical Therapy and the Global Burden of Cardiovascular Disease. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016;67(13):1516-8.

Smith SC Jr. Defining Potential Use of Nonstatin Therapies to Lower Blood Cholesterol Levels. JAMA Cardiol. 2017. 1;2(9):946-947.