Stephen M. Smith is a physician-scientist who works at VAPORHCS as an intensivist and neuroscientist. He obtained his medical degree and PhD at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England. After medical residency in London, he was a Registrar in intensive care at Guy’s Hospital and RPAH and RNSH in Sydney Australia. At Stanford University he worked in the laboratories of Richard Tsien and Richard Scheller in the department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology. He has been at OHSU since 2000 and VAPORHCS since 2012. 

His research largely studies neuronal function in health and disease and focuses on drug target identification and delirium. In addition, he collaborates with others working on oligodendrocyte function, the link between traumatic brain injury and epilepsy, and the mechanism behind pulmonary epithelial presentation of TB antigens. His clinical work has resulted in  a number of bedside studies in critically ill patients. These included the identification of lung water as a sensitive and specific measure of ARDS severity and the testing of N-acetylcysteine to prevent acute renal failure following shock.