Overview
Emily Smith, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Duke University with research interests including children’s global surgery, poverty metrics, health economics, and global health policy. As an epidemiologist, she has worked with her in-country partners at the Edna Adan Hospital in Somaliland for the past 5 years on projects related to children’s surgical care, including defining the epidemiologic burden, assessing poverty trajectories among families with a child’s surgical need, geospatial analyses, and healthcare infrastructure. Prior to DGHI, her work at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) involved utilizing epidemiological methods, mathematical modeling techniques and cost-effectiveness research to determine effectiveness of various testing strategies among HIV exposed infants in sub-Saharan Africa.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Associate Professor in Emergency Medicine
·
2025 - Present
Emergency Medicine,
Clinical Science Departments
Associate Research Professor of Global Health
·
2025 - Present
Duke Global Health Institute,
University Institutes and Centers
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
·
2025 - Present
Duke Cancer Institute,
Institutes and Centers
Recent Publications
Indexing Healthcare Access and Quality for Surgically Amenable Causes of Death: A Global Analysis of 204 Countries and Territories in 2019.
Journal Article World J Surg · November 20, 2025 BACKGROUND: We analyzed the healthcare access and quality (HAQ) index for surgically amenable causes, its progress since 1990, and the gap compared to non-surgical HAQ across 204 countries and territories in 2019 for children (up to 14 years) and overall p ... Full text Link to item CiteDelayed primary surgery and outcomes in children with gastrointestinal anomalies in 264 hospitals and 74 countries.
Journal Article Am J Epidemiol · November 4, 2025 The impact of delayed presentation to primary surgery on mortality and complication outcomes in children with gastrointestinal congenital anomalies is poorly understood. Using a cohort of 3767 children with gastrointestinal anomalies in 74 countries (2018- ... Full text Link to item CiteGlobal Barriers to Otolaryngology Care.
Journal Article JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg · June 1, 2025 IMPORTANCE: Understanding the global barriers to otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) care is crucial in addressing disparities in access to care, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). OBJECTIVE: To characterize barriers to ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Improving access to cancer care for children in Tanzania: Designing a health-systems intervention
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Fogarty International Center · 2022 - 2027Using community health centers to mitigate the impact of snakebite envenoming in remote areas: Development and formative evaluation of a novel multi-modal intervention in the Brazilian Amazon
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2021 - 2024View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ·
2016
Ph.D.
University of South Carolina, Columbia ·
2006
M.S.P.H.
Wayland Baptist University ·
2003
B.S.