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Research Overview

Edward Smith is engaged in basic science research on primary brain tumors and cerebrovascular disease. His research is primarily centered on understanding the molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis and angiogenesis in the central nervous system. This work has included basic science and translational studies investigating adult and pediatric brain tumors, moyamoya disease and cerebral vascular malformations. This research has implicated a class of extracellular matrix proteins, called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), in the advent and progression of several disease states of the central nervous system, including brain tumors, moyamoya and vascular malformations.

A major research interest, in conjunction with the lab of Marsha Moses, PhD, director of the Vascular Biology Program, is the study of pediatric cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). A number of projects have been generously supported by the Lucas Warner AVM research fund, resulting in exciting discoveries relevant to the diagnosis, understanding and treatment of these challenging lesions. Smith's research has been supported by funding from several other sources, including the National Institutes of Health, and is carried out in collaboration with a number of investigators in associated fields, particularly Moses.

Goals of Smith's work include:

  • development of a panel of non-invasive biomarkers for the detection and follow-up of neurosurgical disease;
  • development of novel therapeutic interventions for neurosurgical disease based on regulation of vascular stability;
  • investigation of the molecular mechanisms regulating tumorigenesis and angiogenesis in the central nervous system.

Research Background

Edward R. Smith received an MD from Columbia University. He completed a neurosurgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and a fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at Boston Children's Hospital. He also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at MGH and a clinical research fellowship at Children's. Smith is currently the director of Pediatric Cerebrovascular Surgery and co-director of both the Stroke and Skull Base Centers at Children's. He has been recognized for his clinical work with regional and national awards. He was recently named Chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery and voted President-elect of the Young Neurosurgeons Committee of the American Association of Neurologic Surgery. Smith also teaches at Tufts and Harvard Medical Schools, having taught neuroanatomy for over 10 years. He has been an invited speaker at grand rounds at institutions locally and nationally. He gives lectures for the critical care team, the nursing staff and the first responder teams at Children's, and teaching rounds for the neurosurgical department at Children's and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

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Caregiver Profile

Meet Dr. Edward Robert Smith

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