Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Australian National University, founder and Director of the Trauma and Orthopaedic Research Unit based at the Canberra Hospital and at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, and Orthopaedic Unit Director at the Canberra Hospital. Professor Smith is chair of the Australian Orthopaedic Association (ACT branch) and also Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (ACT Branch). He sits on the ANU Medical School senior faculty executive.

Professor Smith is widely recognised as a nationally leading orthopaedic researcher with over 160 peer reviewed publications and more than 100 conference presentations. He is a regular speaker at national and international meetings. He has supervised over 15 MPhil and PhD students in their higher degree studies. In the field of knee research alone Professor Smith has published over 40 journal papers. Professor Smith is the only Australian surgeon to have been awarded prestigious The Knee Society Insall Fellowship, receiving this fellowship award in recognition of his research in the area of knee kinematics. In 2016 Professor Smith established the Canberra Orthopaedic Research and Education (CORE) Foundation to provide support for research in orthopaedic surgery in the ACT. Professor Smith was awarded Fellowship of the Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA) Research Foundation in 2018 and received the AOA Award for Orthopaedic Research in 2019.

In between his other commitments Professor Smith has a full time clinical role and is one of Australia’s most experienced hip and knee surgeons, having performed over 5000 hip and knee replacement procedures.

Professor Smith is passionate about community and has a major commitment through his role as chair of the John James Memorial Foundation (JJMF), the ACT regions largest health and medical charitable foundation. The JJMF supports Canberra health charities through its program of annual community grants totalling almost $500,000 each year, and provides scholarships for indigenous students at the ANU Medical School . The Foundation also undertakes major health infrastructure projects, most notably the John James Village in Garran. In 2020 the JJMF will build an early intervention centre for autism in partnership with the AEIOU Foundation.