Melissa Smith

Melissa Smith, M.D., is the Director of Health Equity Initiatives at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where she co-teaches a seminar on Community-based Participatory Research on health disparities. She has over three decades of experience as a family medicine physician in low-income communities in the U.S. and Central America, including recent work at the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department clinic in Santa Maria, California. Her work integrates clinical practice with health and social justice advocacy.

Dr. Smith has led initiatives such as the Latinx and Indigenous Migrant COVID-19 Response Task Force (2020) and participatory action research projects on maternal health in Mexico. She developed training programs for community health workers in Nicaragua and Guatemala and served as a medical editor for Hesperian Health Guides, including her lead-authored book Health Actions for Women: Practical Strategies to Mobilize for Change, translated into seven languages.

Her educational background includes a BA from Harvard University and an MD from the University of Washington. She continues to engage in global health equity efforts through UCSB and external collaborations.