[Skip to Content]

President David R. Smith, M.D., elected to MDA board of directors

SYRACUSE, NY ? The Metropolitan Development Association (MDA) announced today the election of David R. Smith, M.D., president of SUNY Upstate Medical University, to its board of directors. Dr. Smith is an accomplished heath care professional and academic administrator with an impressive record of public service.

"David R. Smith is a collaborator and a visionary whose leadership will strengthen not only one of the region's most important medical and academic institutions, but one of its largest employers," said Irwin L. Davis, MDA president and CEO. "His choice to come to Central New York over anywhere in the world speaks volumes, and it will make him a compelling champion for regional development."

Prior to becoming SUNY Upstate's sixth president, Dr. Smith was chancellor of the Texas Tech University System from July 2001 to February 2006. He has served on numerous local and national boards throughout his career. In 1996, he was the recipient of the American Medical Association's Dr. Nathan Davis Award, the organization's highest award for outstanding public service.

Dr. Smith is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes in White Plains, NY and, in January 2005, he began his tenure on the Board of Directors of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC). In 2006, Dr. Smith was appointed as a member of the National Institutes of Health, National Center of Minority Health and Health Disparities.

A native of Ohio, Dr. Smith received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency and chief residency at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics since 1985.

Dr. Smith is married to Donna Bacchi, M.D., MPH, a board certified pediatrician who will join the faculty of SUNY Upstate's Department of Pediatrics later this year. The Smiths have two children, Christopher, a third-year law student, and Jocelyn, a college sophomore.

One of Central New York largest employers ? SUNY Upstate Medical University educates more than 1,200 students in four colleges ? Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions and Nursing ? as well as more than 450 graduate physicians in residency and fellowship training programs. The Center's clinical science faculty attend to 140,000 patients each year at University Hospital and thousands more in outpatient clinical facilities. In both the basic and the clinical sciences, there is participation in more than 400 funded research projects.

Upstate Medical University's Binghamton clinical campus is a community-based branch campus for clinical medical education. It was developed to provide an innovative medical education program emphasizing the national and state initiatives to train greater numbers of generalist physicians with an emphasis on primary health care, as well as preventive medicine and health maintenance.

SUNY Upstate is part of the State University of New York ? the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 414,000 students in 7,669 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses.

About the MDA:

The Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York, Inc. is the region's primary business leadership and economic development organization and the principle private sector vehicle for the implementation of key development projects in the Central Upstate New York region. For more information, visit www.mda-cny.com.

Top