Alexander D. Smith
Medical Scholars Program MD-PhD Candidate403 W. Green St. Urbana, IL 61801
almdphd@gmail.com
Education
I'm an MD-PhD Candidate at the University of Urbana-Champaign and Carle Illinois College of Medicine, pursuing advancement of medical and surgical robotics.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
PhD - Computer Science
expected 2026
Carle Illinois College of Medicine
MD - Doctor of Medicine
expected 2028
Johns Hopkins University
Post-Baccalaureate
2020
Saint Louis University
BS - Biomedical Engineering BS - Computer Science
2019
Research Positions
Graduate Research Assistant
Intelligent Motion Laboratory, Champaign, IL
Laboratory Technician
Carnegie Center for Surgical Innovation, Baltimore, MD
Surgical Robotics Engineering Intern
SLU Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, Saint Louis, MO
Software Engineer
SLU Department of Computer Science, Saint Louis, MO
Education Improvement Intern
SLU Department of BiologyPublications
Automated Heart and Lung Auscultation in Robotic Physical Examinations
Yifan Zhu BE; Alexander D. Smith BS; Kris Hauser PhD IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
February 8, 2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2022.3149576
Robotic EVD Placement for Acute Neurosurgical Care in Low-Resource Settings: Feasibility Considerations and Prototype Design
Alexander D. Smith BS; Alexander J. Teague BS; Anant Naik BS; Mika Janbahan BS; Emily J Smith BS; David T Krist PhD; Sindhu Parupalli BS; Kevin Teal MD; Wael Hassaneen MD, PhD Journal of Neurosurgery Focus - Robotics
January 1, 2022
https://doi.org/10.3171/2021.10.FOCUS21544
Evaluating Robotic Pedicle Screw Placement Against Alternative Modalities: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis
Anant Naik BS; Alexander D. Smith BS; Annabelle Shaffer MS; David Krist PhD; Christina Monawad BS; Bailey MacInnis BS; Kevin Teal MD; Wael Hassaneen MD, PhD; Paul Arnold MD Journal of Neurosurgery Focus - Robotics
January 1, 2022
https://doi.org/10.3171/2021.10.FOCUS21509
Automated Polyaxial Screw Placement Using a Commercial-Robot-Based, Image-Guided Spine Surgery System
Alexander D. Smith BS; Jacob Chapin MS; Paul V. Birinyi MD; Prathamesh V. Bhagvath MS; Andrew F. Hall ScD IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics
November 11, 2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/TMRB.2020.3037339
Presentations
Development of an Inexpensive Spine Surgery Assistance System for Low-Resource Settings
Oral Presentation
A. Smith, A. Shaffer, A. Naik, W. Hassaneen, P. Arnold
September 9, 2022
Illinois State Neurosurgical Society
Urbana, IL
Intraoperative prophylaxis for surgical site infections in pediatric spinal surgery: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
Oral Presentation
A. Shaffer, A. Naik, B. MacInnis, M. Chen, A. Smith, W.
Hassaneen, P. Arnold
September 9, 2022
Illinois State Neurosurgical Society
Urbana, IL
Spine Surgery Assistance Robot for Low-Resource Settings: A Proof of Concept
Poster Presentation
A. Smith, A. Naik, A. Shaffer, W. Hassaneen, P. Arnold
August 12, 2022
Midwest Healthcare Management Conference
Urbana, IL
Passive Robotic Navigation for External Ventricular Drain Placement in Low-Resource Settings
Poster Presentation
A. Teague, A. Smith, A. Naik, M. Janbahan, E. Smith, D.
Krist, S. Parupalli, K. Teal, P. Arnold, W. Mostafa
August 12, 2022
Midwest Healthcare Management Conference
Urbana, IL
Clinical, Entrepreneurial, and Scientific Approaches to Medical Innovation
Seminar
A. Smith
July 22, 2022
RISE Seminars
Urbana, IL
Quantifying the Need for Global Neurosurgical Intervention – And a Robotic Approach to Increase Access to Treatment
Oral Presentation
A. Smith, A. Teague, A. Naik, W. Hassaneen, P. Arnold
July 10, 2022
National MD-PhD Student Annual Conference
Copper Mountain, CO
Assessing Needs for Acute Neurosurgical Care in Low-Resource Settings
Oral Presentation
A. Smith, A. Teague, A. Naik, E. Smith, M. Janbahan, D.
Krist, K. Teal, P. Arnold, W. Hassaneen
April 29, 2022
American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual
Meeting
Philadelphia, PA
The State of Machine Learning in Outcomes Prediction of Transsphenoidal Surgery: A Systematic Review
Poster Presentation
D. Yang, A. Smith, E. Smith, M. Janbahan, A. Naik, C.
Thompson, W. Hassaneen
April 29, 2022
American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual
Meeting
Philadelphia, PA
Robotic EVD Placement for Acute Neurosurgical Care in Low-Resource Settings
Oral Presentation, Best in Innovation and Industry
A. Smith, A. Teague, A. Naik, M. Janbahan, E. Smith, D.
Krist, S. Parupalli, K. Teal, W. Hassaneen
April 2022
Annual Health Innovation Research Day at University of
Illinois
Champaign, IL
The State of Machine Learning in Outcomes Prediction of Transsphenoidal Surgery: A Systematic Review
Poster Presentation
D. Yang, A. Smith, E. Smith, M. Janbahan, A. Naik, C.
Thompson, W. Hassaneen
April 2022
Annual Health Innovation Research Day at University of
Illinois
Champaign, IL
The Role of the Medical Student on the Spine Surgery Team
Seminar
A. Smith, K. Teal
November 12, 2021
Carle Foundation Annual Spine Summit
Urbana, IL
Evaluating Robotic Pedicle Screw Placement Against Alternative Modalities: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis
Poster Presentation, Best Poster Award
A. Naik, A. Smith, A. Shaffer, D. Krist, C. Monawad, B.
MacInnis, K. Teal, W. Hassaneen, P. Arnold
November 12, 2021
Global Neurosurgery Lyceum Series: Global Neurosurgical
Update & Educational Summit
Virtual
Cost-Effective Neurosurgical Navigation and CSF Evacuation for Global TBI
Oral Presentation
A. Smith
October 18, 2021
Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting
Austin, TX
Evaluating Strategies to Manage High-Grade Gliomas and Metastases in the Brain
Oral Presentation, Best Research Presentation
D. Krist, E. Smith, A. Naik, M. Janbahan, A. Smith, M.
Zientek, S. Stanic, W. Hassaneen
July 30, 2021
Discovery Learning Talks
Champaign, IL
Informative Path Planning for Automatic Robotic Auscultation
Poster Presentation
Y. Zhu, A. Smith, K. Hauser
June 4, 2021
International Conference on Robotics and Automation
Virtual
Innovation from the Medical Student Perspective
Seminar
A. Smith, K. Teal, W. Hassaneen, B. Rowitz
May 7, 2021
Carle Foundation Day
Urbana, IL
Automated Polyaxial Screw Placement Using a Commercial-Robot-Based, Image-Guided Spine Surgery System
Oral Presentation
A. Smith, J. Chapin, P. Birinyi, P. Bhagvath, A. Hall
April 16, 2021
19th Annual Health Innovation Research Day at University
of Illinois
Champaign, IL
Neurosurgical Navigation for Low-Resource Communities with a Passive Bone-Mounted Navigation System
Oral Presentation, Best in Bioimaging and Bioinformatics
A. Smith, A. Teague, S. Parupalli
April 9, 2021
16th Coordinated Sciences Laboratory Student Conference
Champaign, IL
Slide Tracking Interface, Visualization, and Analysis for Digital Histopathology
Oral Presentation
A. Smith, L. Huang, T. Wang, A. Baras, M. Zarella, and J.
Siewerdsen
July 1, 2020
Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting
Virtual
Automated Image-Guided Pedicle Screw Placement Using a Commercial Robot
Poster
A. Smith, A. Hall.
October 7, 2018
National Image-Guided Therapy Conference
Boston, MA
Automated Image-Guided Pedicle Screw Placement Using a Commercial Robot
Oral Presentation
A. Smith, J. Chapin, J. Lopez, A. Hall
July 30, 2018
Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting
Atlanta, GA
Commercial Robot Based Retractor for Spine Surgery
Oral Presentation
A. Smith, R. Neuville, A. Hall
July 1, 2017
Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting
Phoenix, AZ
Projects, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership
Carle Illinois Research Chair
Inaugural Research Chair
February 2022 - Present
Carle Illinois Research Website
Wael Mostafa's Neurosurgery Research Group
Co-Founder
January 2021 - Present
Mostafa Neurosurgery Lab Website
AANS Student Chapter
Founder
January 2021 - Present
AANS Student Chapters
Nephra
Startup Advisor
December 2020 - Present
Nephra Website
AxisMED
Founder
March 2020 - Present
AxisMED Homepage
Digital Histopathology Interface
Founder
January 2020 - Present
Demo site coming soon...
Viviapath Storybooks Foundation
Co-Founder
May 2017 - Present
Website coming soon...
MEDLaunch Saint Louis
President Emeritus
March 2017 - May 2019
MEDLaunch Homepage
NeuroSynaptic Medical
Co-Founder
August 2016 - April 2017
Automated GCS Patent
Biography
I am Al Smith, an ambitious medical student studying the
intersection of medicine and engineering. My interests are in
theoretical computational sciences and surgery, with focus on
the applications of robots to neurosurgical emergency procedures
in low-resource settings. I am in the process of obtaining an MD
and a PhD with a medical robotics focus while attending the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Illinois
College of Medicine.
I was born to Tim and Cindy Smith in West Linn, Oregon on July 21, 1997 and was baptized into the Catholic Church. As a child, I found great fascination in mathematics, science, and music, pursuing piano lessons, science fairs and other activities promoting scientific and creative learning. At the age of 10, our family moved to Naperville, Illinois. I found interest in twisty puzzles through the Rubik's Cube, which I learned to solve during the winter of 2007. I participated in several puzzle-solving competitions around this time, and used inspiration from this hobby to create my first statistics project: "Lube Cubed - How Lubricants Affect the Solve Time of a Rubik's Cube". This project went on to place in the Illinois Junior Academy of Science Annual State Exposition, greatly expanding my interest in pursuing the sciences long-term.
I attended high school at Benet Academy from 2011-2015. I explored several avenues, finding strong interest in engineering and computer science topics during my education. I also participated in several music organizations, including my high school Wind Ensemble, Jazz Combo and Ensemble, Pit Orchestra for our musical production, and a few small band groups with friends playing brass instruments, particularly trumpet and French horn. I additionally participated in the varsity boys swim team with strengths in long-distance, butterfly, and individual medley races. Outside of school, I often focused on health through weight lifting and dieting and found fascination in cars, learning to do all maintenance and upgrading on my first car, a 2006 Scion tC.
I was born to Tim and Cindy Smith in West Linn, Oregon on July 21, 1997 and was baptized into the Catholic Church. As a child, I found great fascination in mathematics, science, and music, pursuing piano lessons, science fairs and other activities promoting scientific and creative learning. At the age of 10, our family moved to Naperville, Illinois. I found interest in twisty puzzles through the Rubik's Cube, which I learned to solve during the winter of 2007. I participated in several puzzle-solving competitions around this time, and used inspiration from this hobby to create my first statistics project: "Lube Cubed - How Lubricants Affect the Solve Time of a Rubik's Cube". This project went on to place in the Illinois Junior Academy of Science Annual State Exposition, greatly expanding my interest in pursuing the sciences long-term.
I attended high school at Benet Academy from 2011-2015. I explored several avenues, finding strong interest in engineering and computer science topics during my education. I also participated in several music organizations, including my high school Wind Ensemble, Jazz Combo and Ensemble, Pit Orchestra for our musical production, and a few small band groups with friends playing brass instruments, particularly trumpet and French horn. I additionally participated in the varsity boys swim team with strengths in long-distance, butterfly, and individual medley races. Outside of school, I often focused on health through weight lifting and dieting and found fascination in cars, learning to do all maintenance and upgrading on my first car, a 2006 Scion tC.
In 2015, I began college at Saint Louis University (SLU),
starting undecided in engineering. I was quickly introduced to
research after a lecture by Dr. Andy Hall in which he described
medical devices and surgical robotics. I approached him and he
invited me to join his lab. Shortly after joining this lab, I
decided to add a second major in computer science to bolster my
focus in robotics programming. I used this dual major to decide
that I wanted to work on surgical robotics for my career.
I joined MEDLaunch in 2016 as a team member and worked on my first entrepreneurial venture, Neurosynaptic Medical, in which our team attempted to develop an automated approach to assess a patient's Glasgow Coma Score in the neurological intensive care unit. This experience greatly opened my network, giving me connections to the neurosurgeons at SLU Hospital and other healthcare workers. I joined the MEDLaunch Leadership team in 2017, and in 2018, I was elected president of the organization. I advanced my understanding of entrepreneurship through trial-and-error, attempting three different startup companies in my senior years at SLU: an electronic medical record company called Lifaxis, a children's storybook nonprofit called Viviapath, and continuing work on Neurosynaptic.
I founded the SLU Cycling Team with Alec Albright in 2016, participated in several Cat5 and Cat4 bike races, and became interested in IRONMAN triathlons as well. I since participated in 4 IRONMAN triathlons around the country, including Steelhead 70.3, Muncie 70.3, Louisville 140.6, and Coeur d'Alene 70.3. I also participated in St. Francis Xavier College Church's choir orchestra, playing French horn for Sunday Mass.
In 2018, I found my calling as an MD/PhD physician and completed premedical coursework in my senior year at SLU. I took a gap-year at Johns Hopkins University to apply for medical school and obtain a rich research experience in the Carnegie Center for Surgical Innovation. In January 2020, I was accepted to Carle Illinois, my top choice program. I became the first MD/PhD candidate in the Medical Scholars Program, and decided to pursue my PhD in computer science to advance my capability to impact the field of surgical robotics.
I plan to pursue a residency in neurosurgery after medical school, with the hopes of applying my medical knowledge, scientific capabilities, and entrepreneurial spirit to global challenges in access to medical care, particularly in emergency situations without existing access to life-saving treatments. I feel incredibly blessed to have the ability to serve this mission. I am extremely motivated to use these skills I have obtained to continue to challenge the unknown and inspire others to do the same.
I joined MEDLaunch in 2016 as a team member and worked on my first entrepreneurial venture, Neurosynaptic Medical, in which our team attempted to develop an automated approach to assess a patient's Glasgow Coma Score in the neurological intensive care unit. This experience greatly opened my network, giving me connections to the neurosurgeons at SLU Hospital and other healthcare workers. I joined the MEDLaunch Leadership team in 2017, and in 2018, I was elected president of the organization. I advanced my understanding of entrepreneurship through trial-and-error, attempting three different startup companies in my senior years at SLU: an electronic medical record company called Lifaxis, a children's storybook nonprofit called Viviapath, and continuing work on Neurosynaptic.
I founded the SLU Cycling Team with Alec Albright in 2016, participated in several Cat5 and Cat4 bike races, and became interested in IRONMAN triathlons as well. I since participated in 4 IRONMAN triathlons around the country, including Steelhead 70.3, Muncie 70.3, Louisville 140.6, and Coeur d'Alene 70.3. I also participated in St. Francis Xavier College Church's choir orchestra, playing French horn for Sunday Mass.
In 2018, I found my calling as an MD/PhD physician and completed premedical coursework in my senior year at SLU. I took a gap-year at Johns Hopkins University to apply for medical school and obtain a rich research experience in the Carnegie Center for Surgical Innovation. In January 2020, I was accepted to Carle Illinois, my top choice program. I became the first MD/PhD candidate in the Medical Scholars Program, and decided to pursue my PhD in computer science to advance my capability to impact the field of surgical robotics.
I plan to pursue a residency in neurosurgery after medical school, with the hopes of applying my medical knowledge, scientific capabilities, and entrepreneurial spirit to global challenges in access to medical care, particularly in emergency situations without existing access to life-saving treatments. I feel incredibly blessed to have the ability to serve this mission. I am extremely motivated to use these skills I have obtained to continue to challenge the unknown and inspire others to do the same.
