[6] Following her residency, Smylie began her medical career at the Ottawa General Hospital before moving to be a physician with Anishnawbe Health in Toronto.
[5] After working six years as a practising physician, Smylie enrolled at Johns Hopkins University for a master's degree in public health.
[6] While serving as the director of the centre, Smylie was recruited by Patricia O’Campo to help develop an Indigenous health research program at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.
[2] Smylie immediately helped re-launch and direct The Well Living House, a research centre that focuses on Indigenous infants, children, and family health and well-being.
[7] She also oversaw the signing of a memorandum of understanding with leadership at St. Michael's Hospital to ensure that Indigenous priorities and perspectives would guide all research.
The project was called "Kind Faces Sharing Places" and it aimed to recruit 100 mothers and their families to receive care from an interdisciplinary team led by Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto.
At the time of the appointment, she was believed to be the "first self-identified Indigenous person with kin and land ties to what is now known as Canada to be granted a Tier 1 CRC in Health.