Jordan L. Smith, MD, PhD
Former RTI Lab: MD/PhD Candidate, Xue Lab
Training Period: 2015 - 2022
Prior Academic Degree Institution: Indiana University
Awards: NRSA F30 Fellowship, NCI, NIH
Jordan L. Smith 
@j_leigh_smith
As a training physician scientist, I aspire to be a neurosurgeon-scientist studying mechanisms of tumorigenesis. I completed my thesis in Dr. Wen Xue’s laboratory at the UMass Chan Medical School. My work focuses on how YAP1 signaling regulates pediatric liver cancer differentiation and metabolism, and how changes in tumor differentiation status may impact patient prognosis.
Prior to joining the MD/PhD program, I was a Hutton Honors College graduate of Indiana University with a BA in Biology, English and a minor in History. During my undergraduate years, my interest in becoming a physician scientist was first piqued during a research fellowship at Mayo Clinic. Under Dr. Caroline Sussman, I studied the regulation of cyst formation by Phosphodiesterase 1.
Following graduation from Indiana University, I was awarded a Cancer Research Training Award (CRTA) and studied mechanisms of KRAS oncogenesis in Dr. Ji Luo’s laboratory at the National Cancer Institute.
When away from the bench, I am actively involved as a class representative to the MD/PhD Student Advisory Committee (SAC), as a co-institutional representative to the American Physician Scientist Association (ASPA), and as a teaching assistant to the UMass Chan Health Science Preparatory Program. Following completion of the MD/PhD program, I plan to pursue neurological surgery residency to take the next step towards a career as a practicing physician scientist.