Anna Jo Smith, MD, MPH grew up in a small town in the South where the nearest hospital was over 45 minutes away and nearly everyone smoked. This inspired a lifelong interest in access to care and cancer prevention. Now, as a gynecologic oncology fellow and health services researcher, she focuses on how insurance design—and public health programs—can impact women’s cancer outcomes. Her recent research on the Affordable Care Act’s benefits for women with ovarian and cervical cancer has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and at ASCO. Her current work focuses on interventions in insurance policy to reduce health disparities for women with gynecologic cancer, including rural women. She is passionate about research mentoring and has guided several medical students and residents through projects, while in clinical training herself.
Dr. Smith received her masters in public health and health policy and economics at the London Schools of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and of Economics as a Marshall Scholar. She graduated from Harvard Medical School where she received honors in a special field for her research on Massachusetts health reform and children with special health care needs. She completed residency at Hopkins where she received numerous awards for research and clinical excellence.