Mark Anthony Smith (August 15, 1965 – December 19, 2010) was a professor of

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, where he also served as the Director of Basic Science Research at the University Memory and Aging Center. At the time of his death, he had been serving as Executive Director of the

American Aging Association The American Aging Association is a non-profit, tax-exempt biogerontology organization of scientists and laypeople dedicated to biomedical aging studies and geroscience, with the goal of slowing the aging process to extend the healthy human li ...

. Smith served as Editor-in Chief of ''

Journal of Alzheimer's Disease The ''Journal of Alzheimer's Disease'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by IOS Press covering the etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, genetics, treatment, and psychology of Alzheimer's disease. The journal publishes research reports, ...

'' and also sat on the Editorial Board of over 20 leading journals including ''

Science Translational Medicine ''Science Translational Medicine'' is an interdisciplinary biomedical journal established in October 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It publishes basic, biomedical, translational, and clinical research about hu ...

'', '' Discovery Medicine'', ''

Journal of Neurochemistry The ''Journal of Neurochemistry'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of neurochemistry. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International Society for Neurochemistry and was established in 1956. The e ...

'', Journal of Pathology and '' The American Journal of Pathology''. He is recognized in the field of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

research particularly for his work on

oxidative stress Oxidative stress reflects an imbalance between the systemic manifestation of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or to repair the resulting damage. Disturbances in the normal ...

mitochondria A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is us ...

dysfunction and cell cycle re-entry and, with a

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 73 and over 800 peer-review articles and reviews that have received over 21,000 citations, he was named as one of the top Alzheimer's disease researchers in the world, one of the top 100 most-cited scientists in Neuroscience & Behavior and one of the top 25 scientists in free radical research. His many honors included the Jordi Folch-Pi Award from the

American Society for Neurochemistry The American Society for Neurochemistry (ASN) is a professional society for neurochemists and neuroscientists from North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, whose research concerns the role and interactions of small molecules (protein ...

, the ASIP Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology and being elected as a Fellow of the

Royal College of Pathologists The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) is a professional membership organisation. Its main function is the overseeing of postgraduate training, and its Fellowship Examination (FRCPath) is recognised as the standard assessment of fitness to p ...

, a Fellow of the American Aging Association, and a Fellow of

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

, the world's largest scientific organization. He had been awarded the Goudie Lecture & Medal of the

Pathological Society The Pathological Society is a professional organization of Great Britain and Ireland whose mission is stated as 'understanding disease'. Membership and profile The membership of the society is mainly drawn from the UK and includes an internatio ...

but died before he could deliver the lecture.

Biography

Mark A. Smith, son of John Smith (born 1936; underground coal miner

Longwall mining Longwall mining is a form of underground coal mining where a long wall of coal is mined in a single slice (typically thick). The section of rock that is being mined, known as the longwall panel, is typically long, but can be up to long and wi ...

) and Rita Joyce Smith (1935–2004;

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which may include Parenting, caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; Sew ...

), grew up in

Wigston Magna Wigston, or Wigston Magna, is a town in the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire, England, just south of Leicester on the A5199 road, A5199. It had a population of 32,321 in 2011. Geography Wigston is south of the city of Leicester, a ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, where he attended

Bushloe High School Bushloe High School was a middle school with academy status located in Wigston, Leicestershire, England. Admissions It was a middle school, using the three-tier education system (invented in Leicestershire in the early 1960s as part of the ''L ...

. After receiving a full scholarship (grant), he became the first in his family to attend university/college and, in 1986, received a B.Sc. with honors in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry from

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, and, in 1990, a Ph.D. in

Biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. After a brief immersion in the

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry is a medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or self-administered by) patients for curing ...

as a postdoctoral biochemist in the Division of Immunodermatology at Sandoz Forschungsinstitut (now

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...

) in Vienna, Austria, he began working in 1992 at

where he was one of the most prolific and the most cited faculty member on campus, numerically accounting for over 1% of publications and 4% of citations over the past years (data from

Institute for Scientific Information The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysis, ...

). Smith was struck by a motorist and killed on December 19, 2010.

Research

The focus of the research undertaken by Smith's research involves investigating the pathological mechanism(s) underlying selective neuronal death in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Further this research involves a variety of techniques including histology, state of the art molecular and cell biology and cellular and animal models of disease that are directed toward diagnostic, mechanistic, and therapeutic strategies. Current projects are directed towards 1) fundamental metabolic alterations; 2) homeostatic dysregulation of transition metals; 3) signal transduction alterations; and 4) inappropriate re-entry into the cell cycle. Smith collaborated with and co-authored works with, amongst others, Drs. Rudolph J. Castellani Jr. and George Perry.

Community service

Smith served on the Professional Advisory Board of the Cleveland chapter of the

Alzheimer's Association The Alzheimer's Association is a nonprofit voluntary health organization that focuses on Alzheimer's disease care, support and research. History Jerome H. Stone founded the Alzheimer's Association with the help of several family support groups ...

and was Team Captain of a group of local researchers ("A Cure From Cleveland") that participates in the annual fund raising Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association. In addition, Smith donated his time as a frequent guest speaker at local caregiver groups and at a variety of community events.

References

External links

Alzheimer Research Forum Profile

Discovery Medicine

Researcher ID
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Mark A. American neuroscientists 1965 births 2010 deaths Road incident deaths in Ohio Alzheimer's disease researchers Case Western Reserve University faculty English neuroscientists Alumni of the University of Nottingham People from Geauga County, Ohio Pedestrian road incident deaths Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham