Susan M. Smith

Susan M. Smith is a Professor of Nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Deputy Director for Science at the Nutrition Research Institute (NRI). Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms through which nutrition, genetics, and prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) interact to impair fetal development.

• Education: PhD in Biochemistry (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987), Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Developmental Biology (Harvard Medical School, 1990)

At the molecular level, her lab identified signals responsible for the apoptotic deletion of craniofacial stem cells (neural crest) in PAE. Current work explores the MDM2/p53/ribosomal gene network modulating neural crest vulnerability to alcohol damage. She also investigates how maternal iron-deficiency elevates fetal susceptibility to PAE-induced deficits and PAE's long-term metabolic and behavioral effects.

Her publications span topics like iron distribution, calcium-dependent neurotoxicity, and E-cadherin regulation, with keywords including Nutrition, Developmental Biology, and Neurotoxicology. Her studies frequently involve zebrafish models, transcriptomics, and metabolic syndrome analysis.

Scientific Recognition:

• MERIT Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Dr. Smith has held leadership roles in NIH study sections and professional societies, including past chair of the NIH Neurotoxicology and Alcohol (NAL) study section and past-president of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Study Group.