Carl Smith, M.D., has returned to his alma mater — the University of
Nebraska Medical Center — as chairman of the department of obstetrics
and gynecology.
In 1988, he joined the UNMC faculty as an assistant professor. Over
the years, he served UNMC’s department of obstetrics and gynecology in
varying capacities: associate residency program director, Maternal-Fetal
Medicine division director, residency program director, vice-chairman,
and interim chairman.
In 1999, Dr. Smith went to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences,
where he served as professor and chairman of the department of obstetrics
and ynecology. He returned to UNMC April 1, succeeding John Repke, M.D.,
as chairman.
“In many ways it’s like I never left,” said Dr. Smith, who earned his
medical degree at UNMC in 1978.
As chairman, Dr. Smith’s goals are to stabilize the clinical and teaching
programs in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, as well as boost
the department’s clinical and basic science research component. “We’re
actively recruiting new faculty and planning training opportunities for
medical students and residents,” he said. “I also want to create an environment
which allows people interested in clinical research to thrive.”
He also plans to reinstate UNMC’s high-risk ob/gyn practice, by redeveloping
relationships with physicians across the state and region.
“The department has many talented and dedicated faculty who are committed
to the mission of the organization,” Dr. Smith said. “Were not rebuilding
from scratch, but utilizing what’s already here. We’d like to be the provider
of choice for ob/gyn care on the campus and in the community.”
Dr. Smith’s clinical interests are in obstetrical ultrasound, prenatal
diagnosis, assessment of fetal well-being and pre-term labor.
Teresa Berg, M.D., his clinical partner at UNMC and then at the University
of Arkansas, also has returned to campus and will help provide consultative
obstetric care. Her clinical interest is in fetal diagnosis. Following
his post-degree training, Dr. Smith served as a clinical research fellow
and clinical instructor at the University of Southern California College
of Medicine. He continued his career in the United States Navy, serving
as chief of obstetrics and gynecology at the U.S. Naval Hospital at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, and later medical director of Labor and Delivery at the U.S.
Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md.
During his tenure in Arkansas, Dr. Smith inherited a financially-troubled
department, which he made profitable. He helped the department maintain
its clinician volume despite declining resources and established a helicopter
transport program for emergent, high-risk pregnancy cases. The University
of Arkansas has the only high-risk pregnancy program in the state.
Dr. Smith and his wife Sheryl have two grown children. The couple looks
forward to reestablishing themselves in the Omaha community.