Dr. Katharine Smart, a Kelowna-based pediatrician has joined the SMP as our new Year 4 Lead. Dr. Smart completed her medical degree at UBC followed by her pediatrics residency with the University of Calgary at Alberta Children’s Hospital. She completed fellowships in both Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Pediatric Trauma and also holds a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru. Over the past nine years, she has worked in the Pediatric Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine Units at Alberta Children’s Hospital, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, and most recently at BC Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Smart has a strong passion for medical education and health initiatives that support underserved populations both locally and internationally. As a medical undergraduate, she implemented a student-service learning project providing primary health care to residents of the Vancouver Downtown Eastside. For the past five years, she served the University of Calgary as Clinical Assistant Professor in Pediatrics training both medical undergraduates and residents. During her time with the university, Dr. Smart developed and implemented a new longitudinal course for their undergraduate medical curriculum focused on global health and underserved populations. Dr. Smart has served as a project physician for international projects in Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Uganda in addition to the One World Child Development Centre Outreach Program supporting high risk, underserved children in Calgary.
Dr. Smart will be focused on building the number and breadth of fourth-year clinical electives offered at hospitals, health centres, and clinics across the Interior. She will also oversee the development and implementation of the Preparation to Medical Practice (PMP) course for SMP students entering their fourth year. Dr. Smart is actively involved in teaching with the pediatrics rotation at KGH as a Clinical Assistant Professor with UBC Department of Pediatrics.