Dr. Carolyn Smith named dean of Graduate School

The Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees voted today to appoint Dr. Carolyn Smith dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, effective immediately. Smith has served as interim dean since July 2019.

Smith is a professor of molecular and cellular biology as well as a member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research focuses on the molecular pharmacology of estrogen receptors, regulation of gene expression by transcriptional coactivators and corepressors, tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer and steroid hormone action in urothelial carcinomas. She has served as the director of the Tissue and Cell Culture Core for the Center for Reproductive Biology and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology since 1994.

“Dr. Smith has been instrumental in the reorganization and reaccreditation of the Graduate School. I look forward to her continued success and vision for the School in this new leadership role,” said Baylor College of Medicine President, CEO and Executive Dean Dr. Paul Klotman.

Smith received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto and her Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Baylor and joined the faculty in 1994. Over the years, she has served in several leadership roles within her program as well as the graduate school, including senior associate dean of graduate education and academic program development for four years before serving as interim dean.

She has published more than 100 papers and been continually funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1996, along with support from the American Heart Association, Department of Defense and the National Space Biomedical Research Program. She has served on numerous study sections for the NIH, Department of Defense and the American Cancer Society most recently as a member of their Extramural Grants Council.

Within graduate education, her interests focus on the development of academic programs, assessment with the goal of enhancing program effectiveness and creating an environment that supports the professional development of research students and postdoctoral fellows. Smith has mentored six Ph.D. students and 24 postdoctoral fellows in her laboratory.

“Baylor College of Medicine is a vibrant and dedicated community with outstanding faculty and research programs that provide exceptional opportunities for training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows,” said Smith. “It has been my honor to work with the dedicated students, fellows, faculty and staff of Baylor in my prior roles in graduate education, and I am excited by the opportunity to lead and further develop the graduate school’s world-class training programs.”