Tara C. Smith

Dr. Smith is a Professor of Epidemiology at the Kent State University College of Public Health. She previously spent 9 years in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, where she directed the College’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and attained the rank of Associate Professor with tenure. She completed post-doctoral training in molecular epidemiology at the University of Michigan prior to beginning her professorship at the University of Iowa. She obtained her PhD at the University of Toledo and her B.S. in Biology from Yale University.

In addition to publishing research in the area of antibiotic resistance and zoonotic disease, Dr. Smith is also very active in science communication and outreach. She has maintained a science blog since 2005 and has written books on Group A Streptococcus, Group B Streptococcus, and Ebola & Marburg. She also edited a book on Ebola published by MIT Press, "Ebola's Message," was published in 2016. She writes about infectious disease for Slate, MentalFloss, and other sites, pens a column for SELF.com, and serves as a member of the advisory board of the Zombie Research Society. She lives in rural Ohio with her partner and her three children.