She is a professor at the Kent State University College of Public Health who studies zoonotic infections.

[11] She compared strains related to ST398, a sequence type that is associated with livestock but not expected to cause infection, from around the world.

[14] Her light-hearted Christmas contribution[16] to the British Medical Journal on the likelihood of a Zombie apocalypse was covered extensively in the mainstream media.

[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][excessive citations] Following the Zika virus outbreak, Smith wrote several articles to provide advice for members of the public.

[31][32][33][34] In late February 2020 the Wall Street Journal called her "a prominent infectious-disease specialist" when reporting on her tweet[35] criticizing the White House's attempt to control messaging about the novel coronavirus outbreak.

[38] Her research has appeared in the popular science books Pig Tales: An Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat and Superbug: the Fatal Menace of MRSA.