This announcement was sent on behalf of Drs. Drs. Michael Avidan, Allison Mitchell, and Sydney Nykiel-Bailey
Following an extensive nationwide search, we are pleased to announce that Dr. Kendall Smith has accepted the position of Associate Program Director for the Anesthesiology Residency Program.
Dr. Smith, associate professor of anesthesiology, currently serves as the Assistant Program Director for Residency Affairs and also the Co-Associate Program Director for the Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. In these roles, she has distinguished herself as a thoughtful educator and collaborative leader, advancing initiatives to strengthen trainee education, mentorship, and professional development.
Among her many contributions, Dr. Smith redesigned the residency advisor program to enhance mentorship, co-developed the Resilience, Career Development, and Leadership (REAL) curriculum, helped implement a remote curriculum to ensure continuity of resident education during the COVID-19 pandemic, and created a structured Quality Improvement Curriculum for the Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. She has also played an integral role in resident and fellow education through her service on key residency and fellowship committees.
Dr. Smith brings a broad perspective on graduate medical education and a forward-looking vision for preparing residents to thrive in an evolving landscape. As Associate Program Director, Dr. Smith will partner closely with residency leadership to advance the program’s tradition of excellence while helping shape its future. Her areas of focus will include integrating emerging educational approaches, including artificial intelligence, expanding senior resident specialty tracks, and fostering other innovative approaches to resident education and professional development.
Dr. Smith is board certified in anesthesiology, critical care medicine, and advanced perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. Originally from the Midwest, she earned both her MD and PhD in Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Kansas School of Medicine. She completed her anesthesiology residency through the Duke Academic Career Enrichment Scholar (ACES) Program before pursuing a clinical fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Smith on her appointment as Associate Program Director. Her unwavering commitment to educational excellence, innovation, mentorship, and collaboration has made her exceptionally well suited for this role, and we look forward to her continued leadership and the many contributions she will bring to the residency program.