Ask Away! Series Featuring Dr. David Smith
Dr. David “Davey” Smith, MD, MAS, is an infectious disease specialist and translational research virologist. In his translational research, he uses basic science techniques to answer clinically relevant questions. Dr. Smith's primary research involves both figuring out how to stop the transmission of HIV and curing HIV, and he has published over 200 scientific publications in these areas. In 2010, Dr. Smith was named HIV Researcher of the Year by the HIV Medical Association, and he became the co-director and principal investigator of the San Diego Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) in 2016.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Dr. Smith has been actively engaged in the international effort to find safe and effective treatments. In particular, he is the international protocol chair for the ACTIV-2 treatment study, which is a part of the US government’s Operation Warp Speed. This study is designed to find effective therapies for persons with early COVID-19.
He joined the UC San Diego faculty in 2003, and was promoted to Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego in 2017.
In 2020, he was appointed the Florence Seeley Riford Chair in AIDS Research at UC San Diego. He has been elected as a fellow to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, American College of Physicians, and Infectious Diseases Society of America.
We’re so excited to feature him as our 1st guest! Take a look at our Q&A with him below.
I believe in the mission of speeding up the translation of scientific discovery to better health and improved health equity. This is the ACTRI’s heart. I want to be part of an organization that has the same cardiac rhythm as mine.
After everything you’ve done in the scientific field, why did you decide to join ACTRI at this time?
I have spent my career battling infectious diseases, both through the clinic and through research. I learned during this time that the most vulnerable people and communities are hit the hardest by infectious diseases and they have the most to gain from scientific discovery. However, those communities are often left out of the scientific process and thus do not share fully in the benefits of research. So I decided to put my career where my mouth was and applied for this position at the ACTRI to help translate the amazing science occurring at UCSD and its partners into meaningful healthy change.
Reflecting on COVID-19, what are your thoughts on pandemic prevention? What were your thoughts on pandemic prevention prior to COVID-19?
In my short career, I have seen HIV, Zika, Ebola, Swine flu, SARS-1, etc. Each time the world seems surprised that there are viruses out to kill us. The audacity! So we were not prepared for COVID-19, and I am not sure we are in that much better place now. People seem to want to forget. (Denial is a powerful human defense mechanism.) But vulnerable communities are still vulnerable. Public health systems are not much stronger. We have gone back to ignoring our most vulnerable neighbors. Hopefully, our PREPARE Center at UCSD and ACTRI will help in this regard, so we can be more resilient when the next pandemic hits…. Because another pandemic is coming, probably Avian flu.
Do you think the scientific community should have handled the COVID-19 pandemic differently?
I wish we were better prepared. We had all the scientific tools to make diagnostics, treatments and vaccines before the pandemic. We also knew that there were a bunch of coronaviruses ready to spillover and cause a pandemic. What would have the pandemic looked like if we had monoclonal antibody treatments and mRNA vaccines ready to go when the first cases were discovered? If we can learn that lesson now, then we should make those vaccines and treatments for other coronaviruses and other viruses of pandemic potential, like Ebola, Marburg, Avian flu, etc, now instead of waiting until a bunch of people die.
What are some positive outcomes out of the COVID-19 pandemic experience in your professional opinion?
I think that there is some increased awareness of how bad viruses can be, but I worry that people think that something like COVID-19 will not happen again. The next virus will likely be even more deadly, unfortunately. Maybe we have created a pandemic playbook somewhere that we can dust off and use for the next pandemic.
In your opinion, how do we prepare for another pandemic or epidemic?
Be vigilant. We should constantly be on the lookout for the next infectious threat.
Take care of our most vulnerable neighbors. The world can only be as healthy as the most vulnerable amongst us.
Invest in the science. Science got us out of the COVID-19 pandemic and science will get us out of the next pandemic. The sooner we learn this, the better off we will be. Investing in science BEFORE the pandemic is the best way to lessen such a pandemic's impact.
Have you watched “The Last of Us”? If so, what do you think about the show and the general attention being paid to worldwide disaster scenarios?
I watched it. Some episodes were quite touching. I think such entertainment has a crucial role in reminding us all that life as we know it is fragile.
Do you think we should be concerned about the new deadly C. auris fungus outbreak everyone is talking about?
Yes. Right now C. auris is a growing problem for chronically ill people in nursing homes. These are very vulnerable people who often suffer the most from infectious diseases. (Remember COVID killing all the people in nursing homes?) This fungus has the ability to cause problems more widely too, so we will need to watch it and try to control it carefully. It is interesting that there is a link between C. auris spread and climate change. I think more pathogens will raise their ugly heads as the world heats up.
What do you see as big trends for the NIH/CTSA in the next few years and how do we need to adapt as researchers and administrators?
The NIH and NCATS/CTSA is charged with performing the science that leads to discoveries that can make us healthier. There are so many roadblocks to moving scientific discovery from the lab to the clinic to the community. This is where NCATS and its CTSA program has led the charge. I see this group continuing to innovate in how science is made and implemented to get those discoveries to us all quicker. I also think that such governmental funding will be tight and we will need to learn how to do more with less money.
How do you balance all of your responsibilities? Tell us about your work/life balance.
I love my job! I love my life! Both loves are possible. I just got back from hiking around the Ecuadorian jungle with my husband looking at birds and animals. It was a great way to recharge myself for starting this new job at the ACTRI. I just need to remember that sometimes at the end of a long day, I just need to watch T.V., like the Last of Us.
What would you like the research community to know about you?
I think the thing I would like to end this interview with is failure. My scientific and professional philosophy is that failure leads to success, so embrace it. So many times I have trainees say to me, “I am never going to be a good scientist because my grant did not get funded or my paper got rejected.” Ok, try again. And again. And again. Resilience is important in pandemics and it’s important in science, too. In these times of social media where people only post good and happy things makes it seem like life and careers are easy. Not true. So I made a CV of Failures that I post on my lab website and update regularly about professional failures. It helps keep me grounded, and hopefully shows others that we all struggle, and that struggle is an important part of life and science.
Don’t forget to email us at: researchcomm@health.ucsd.edu or v3chavez@health.ucsd.edu if you have any questions for him as we will be talking to him again on Instagram Live next month!
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Lastly, this Ask Away! Series will be posted on a monthly basis, so feel free to send any questions you might have about research and science our way!
See you next month,
UC San Diego ACTRI