Tara C. Smith

Tara C. Smith is an American epidemiologist and science communicator. She is a professor at the Kent State University College of Public Health who studies zoonotic infections. Smith was the first to identify strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus associated with livestock in the United States.

For other uses, see Tara Smith.
Tara Smith
Alma materUniversity of Toledo
Yale University
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Iowa
Kent State University
Websitetaracsmith.com/

Early life and education

Smith has a Bachelor of Science in biology from Yale University.[1][2] She earned her PhD in microbiology at the University of Toledo, where she investigated Streptococcus pyogenes.[1][2][3] She completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Michigan.[2]

Career

In 2004 Smith joined the University of Iowa College of Public Health.[4] She has received over $3 million in research funding, primarily from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, United States Department of Agriculture and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.[4][5]

Smith identified that 45% of pig farmers and 49% of hogs farmers carried Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).[6][7][8] She went on to identify that almost 40% of people with MRSA contain the strain associated with livestock.[9][10] The work was described as one of the most comprehensive investigations into the spread of MRSA by the journal Nature.[11] She is distinguishing the Staphylococcus aureus strains around Iowa City, by characterizing the DNA around several places in the genome.[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.[12] She found that meat that is sold with the claim it contains no antibiotics contains the highest levels of the garden-type of S. aureus.[13] Her research has been covered by The New York Times.[6] Smith has also studied and written about vaccine hesitancy.[14]

She joined the Kent State University College of Public Health in 2013 as an associate professor.[4][14] In 2015 Smith was appointed an American Society for Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer.[15] In 2017 she became a full professor at Kent State.[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] Following the Zika virus outbreak, Smith wrote several articles to provide advice for members of the public.[26][27] She went on to use zombies to demonstrate how diseases were spread.[28][29][30] Smith has written books on Ebola virus, Streptococcus pyogenes and S. agalactiae.[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.[36]

Public engagement

Smith takes part in several initiatives to improve the public understanding of science.[37] She writes a regular column for Self.[2] She has been writing the popular science blog Aetiology since 2005, and was one of the first scientists to start blogging.[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.[39][40] She has featured on podcasts, including Science for the People, Talk Nerdy and the Meet the Microbiologist podcast of the American Society for Microbiology.[41][42][43][44] She has been interviewed by Gizmodo, New Statesman and the Los Angeles Times.[45][46][47]

Bibliography
  • Ebola's Message (2016), co-edited by Maia Majumder and Nichloas Evans[2][48]
  • Ebola and Marburg Viruses (2010)[49]
  • Streptococcus (group A) (2010)[50]
  • Streptococcus (group B) (2007)[51]

Personal life

Smith lives with her partner and three children in rural Ohio.[2]

References
  1. "186: Dr. Tara Smith: Resistance on the Rise: Researcing the Arms Race of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and Potential Transfers from Livestock to Humans - People Behind the Science Podcast". www.peoplebehindthescience.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  2. "Tara C. Smith, Ph.D. Latest Articles". SELF. Archived from the original on 2020-12-29. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  3. "Speakers | The Eagleson Institute". www.eagleson.org. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  4. "Tara C. Smith, Ph.D. | Kent State University". www.kent.edu. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  5. "Grants and Projects". Tara C. Smith, PhD. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  6. Kristof, Nicholas. "Opinion | Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health". Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  7. Mole, Beth (8 May 2015). "Pig farm workers at greater risk for drug-resistant staph". Science News. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  8. "Hog farmers more likely to carry drug-resistant bacteria, study says". Fox News. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  9. Bittman, Mark. "Breeding Bacteria on Factory Farms". Opinionator. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  10. Smith, Tara C.; Gebreyes, Wondwossen A.; Abley, Melanie J.; Harper, Abby L.; Forshey, Brett M.; Male, Michael J.; Martin, H. Wayne; Molla, Bayleyegn Z.; Sreevatsan, Srinand (2013). "Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in pigs and farm workers on conventional and antibiotic-free swine farms in the USA". PLOS ONE. 8 (5): e63704. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...863704S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063704. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3646818. PMID 23667659.
  11. Mole, Beth (24 July 2013). "MRSA: Farming up trouble". Nature. 499 (7459): 398–400. Bibcode:2013Natur.499..398M. doi:10.1038/499398a. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 23887415.
  12. Price, Lance B.; Stegger, Marc; Hasman, Henrik; Aziz, Maliha; Larsen, Jesper; Andersen, Paal Skytt; Pearson, Talima; Waters, Andrew E.; Foster, Jeffrey T. (1 March 2012). "Staphylococcus aureus CC398: Host Adaptation and Emergence of Methicillin Resistance in Livestock". mBio. 3 (1): e00305–11. doi:10.1128/mBio.00305-11. ISSN 2150-7511. PMC 3280451. PMID 22354957.
  13. "Concerns growing over superbugs in our food". msnbc.com. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  14. ORCID. "Tara C. Smith (0000-0003-3747-1116)". orcid.org. Archived from the original on 2020-12-29. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  15. "American Society for Microbiology Distinguished Lecturers: 1992 - Present" (PDF). American Society for Microbiology. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  16. Smith, Tara C. (2015-12-14). "Zombie infections: epidemiology, treatment, and prevention". BMJ. 351: h6423. doi:10.1136/bmj.h6423. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 26668070. Archived from the original on 2020-12-29. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  17. "Zombie epidemics are a 'looming threat', science journal warns". Metro. 16 December 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  18. "British Medical Journal Releases Study Revealing How To Stop A Zombie Virus Outbreak". IFLScience. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  19. "PODCAST: Dr. Tara Smith Joins Houston's Morning News | KTRH". KTRH. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  20. "More Research Needed to Prevent 'Zombie Apocalypse'". Newsweek. 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  21. Liotta, Paul. "The British Medical Journal publishes report on the risk of a zombie outbreak - NY Daily News". nydailynews.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  22. "Zombie apocalypse study makes top scientific journal". Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  23. "Suis-je en train de me transformer en zombie? Le British Medical Journal répond". RTBF Info (in French). 15 December 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  24. Martin, Sean (14 December 2015). "Are we prepared for the Zombie apocalypse? Experts call for more preventative action". International Business Times UK. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  25. "Apocalypse now: Zombies as teachers". ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. 21 April 2016. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  26. "UPDATE: Zika and Pregnancy - What You Need To Know | The Scientific Parent". The Scientific Parent. 21 March 2016. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  27. "Scientists Get Closer to a Zika Vaccine". 28 June 2016. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  28. "Zombies go academic as Kent State University prof explains how infectious diseases spread". cleveland.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  29. "Why are scientists so obsessed with studying zombies?". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  30. Winternitz, Abigail. "Zombie outbreak infiltrates health professor's lesson plan". KentWired.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  31. Smith, Associate Professor Tara C.; Heymann, David (1 August 2007). Ph.D, Edward I. Alcamo (ed.). Streptococcus. New York: Chelsea House Publications. ISBN 9780791092439.
  32. results, search; Heymann, David (1 June 2010). Streptococcus (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Chelsea House Pub. ISBN 9781604132519.
  33. results, search; Heymann, David L. (1 November 2010). Hilary, M. D. Babcock (ed.). Ebola and Marburg Virus (2nd ed.). New York: Chelsea House Pub. ISBN 9781604132526.
  34. Press, The MIT. "Ebola's Message". The MIT Press. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  35. Smith, Dr Tara C. (27 February 2020). "Not good at all. I understand government workers often have to go through layers of approval, but 1) this is an urgent situation and 2) they know way more than Pence". @aetiology. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  36. Armour, Stephanie; Restuccia, Andrew (27 February 2020). "White House Wants Signoff on Coronavirus Messaging". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  37. "Michigan Tech hosts zombies symposium - ABC 10/CW 5". ABC 10/CW 5. 31 October 2014. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  38. "Aetiology – Infections, public health, zombies, and other stuff". aetiologyblog.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  39. results, search (4 May 2015). Pig Tales: An Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat (1st ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393240245.
  40. "SuperBug - Maryn McKenna". Maryn McKenna. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  41. Wolf, Julie. "MRSA in agriculture and zombie epidemiology with Tara C. Smith - MTM 67". Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  42. "Episode 181 - Tara Smith". Talk Nerdy. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  43. "What Can I Do? - Voices For Vaccines". Voices For Vaccines. 14 September 2017. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  44. "#438 - Big Chicken: Science for the People". www.scienceforthepeople.ca. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  45. "Zombie studies: The scientists taking the living dead seriously". www.newstatesman.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  46. Greene, Sean. "What zombies can teach us about infectious diseases". latimes.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  47. Paoletta, Rae. "Reminder: Wave Pools Are Filthy Pits of Despair". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  48. Evans, Nicholas; Smith, Tara C.; Majumder, Maimuna S. (2016). Ebola's message : public health and medicine in the twenty-first century. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-33619-2. OCLC 960448151.
  49. Smith, Tara C., 1976- (2011). Ebola and Marburg viruses (2nd ed.). New York: Chelsea House. ISBN 978-1-4381-3577-9. OCLC 698105724.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  50. Smith, Tara C.; Babcock, Hilary (2010). Streptococcus (group A) (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Chelsea House. ISBN 978-1-4381-3288-4. OCLC 650088855.
  51. Smith, Tara C. (2007). Streptococcus (group B). New York: Chelsea House. ISBN 978-0-7910-9243-9. OCLC 84900446.
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