Mark Smith, MD '68
University of California, Professor of Clinical Medicine
A board-certified physician, university professor, and nationally recognized health policy expert, Mark Smith's lifetime of work has been fueled by his passion to support social equality. This has been his life goal since leaving Harvard after two years, first moving to Mississippi, and then to Washington, DC to run the first African Liberation Day demonstration; soon after he would begin to organize a union for a textile mill in Greensboro, NC. His motives for going back to Harvard and then to medical school at the University of North Carolina were partly professional, but he recognized this path would also provide more leverage to initiate social change. So, he immersed himself as a caregiver in the AIDS epidemic, earned his MBA at Wharton, and, eventually, led an independent healthcare foundation in making $650 million in charitable grants.
While Mark's focus shifted rather early on from a more confrontational form of activism, marching and protesting, to policy development and financial support of social programs and healthcare systems and direct, hands-on patient care, his goal of bringing real change to individuals and communities has driven him all along. He's come a long way from the classrooms at Millbrook, where that fire within him was kindled, and so many, especially those living with HIV, have benefited from his dedication, expertise, and service.
While Mark's focus shifted rather early on from a more confrontational form of activism, marching and protesting, to policy development and financial support of social programs and healthcare systems and direct, hands-on patient care, his goal of bringing real change to individuals and communities has driven him all along. He's come a long way from the classrooms at Millbrook, where that fire within him was kindled, and so many, especially those living with HIV, have benefited from his dedication, expertise, and service.
