Kimberly Y. Smith MD

As Head of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer of ViiV Healthcare Dr. Smith oversees the development of the ViiV Healthcare marketed and pipeline assets. ViiV Healthcare, thru a patient-centered approach to innovation, aims to deliver a variety of safe and effective medicines to meet the needs of patients throughout the treatment spectrum. The breadth of our HIV R&D pipeline reflects our commitment to develop medicines for people living with HIV across the world. Since joining ViiV in 2013 Dr. Smith has led the expansion of the ViiV Research and Development organization and the ViiV pipeline of products for the treatment and prevention of HIV disease. This includes the successful development of ViiV’s 2DR program including dolutegravir/rilpivirine (Juluca); dolutegravir/lamivudine (Dovato) and the long acting injectable regimen of cabotegravir/rilpivirine. In addition, Dr. Smith oversees ViiV’s discovery and early development pipeline and development of assets for treatment of pediatric HIV/AIDS and HIV prevention.

Prior to joining ViiV Healthcare in late 2013, Dr. Smith spent twenty years as an HIV clinician and researcher. She served as the Principal Investigator of the Rush University Medical Center Clinical Research Site of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). Dr. Smith also served on the ACTG Executive Committee, as the chair of the ACTG Underrepresented Populations committee and chair of multiple ACTG clinical trials. She has been a member of NIH study sections, the HIVMA Board of Directors, the CDC Board of Scientific Counselors and numerous advisory committees. Dr. Smith has published over 150 articles, abstracts and manuscripts and she co-edited one of the few books, HIV/AIDS in U.S. Communities of Color, which addressed the HIV epidemic among minorities in the US.

Dr. Smith is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Medicine and holds a MPH degree from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She completed her internship, residency, and Infectious Disease fellowship at Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago. Following her training she served on the faculty of the Section of Infectious Disease at Rush and as an Attending Physician at Stroger (formerly Cook County) Hospital and the CORE Center in Chicago for 15 years.

In addition to her research activities Dr. Smith has been an active clinical educator, community leader and advocate. She has lectured at countless local national and international conferences including the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), the International AIDS Conference, The International Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Infectious Disease Society of America, the National Medical Association Conference and the NAACP National Conference.

In 2008, she was recognized with the Black AIDS Institute "Heroes in the Struggle" Award for patient care and advocacy. In 2011, she was awarded the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Award of Excellence in Medicine for efforts promoting HIV awareness, treatment and prevention in African-American communities; and she was selected as the recipient 2011 Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)’s HIV Medical Association (HIVMA) Clinical Educator Award. That same year she was included in the POZ 100, “100 People, Things and Ideas We Love”. She was described as “is a Class A treatment researcher who continues to make significant headway in the HIV/AIDS academic communities in terms of understanding and addressing the tremendous racial disparities we’re up against. Racism is a large part of why the African-American community is so disproportionately impacted by HIV, and Smith uses her visibility and influence to speak truth to power: that the color of your skin should not make you more vulnerable to contract HIV” In 2020, Dr. Smith was honored with the National Medical Association’s Scroll of Merit, the organizations highest honor, for her groundbreaking research and leadership in the development of a new treatment paradigm for people living with HIV.