Dr. Melissa Smith grew up in Western Pennsylvania and obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1994. After graduating, she visited New Mexico, and fell in love with the landscape, history, and the sun of the southwest, and made it her permanent home. 

Dr. Smith's background is in human medical and psychosocial research focusing on at-risk youth. While in college, she worked as a research assistant for the University of Pittsburgh. After college, she gained experience as a research coordinator for the University of Washington and helped to implement research projects in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Following this, she moved to Albuquerque to work in the Family Practice Department in the School of Medicine at University of New Mexico and worked on numerous medical research projects around the state, including on the Navajo reservation and on the Pueblos.  

After the above research experience and homesteading on her land in a remote area of New Mexico, she was inspired by a country veterinarian who treated her dog for a snake bite wound. Dr. Smith pursued a second career in veterinary medicine, earning her DVM degree from Colorado State University in 2010. 

In 2011, Dr. Smith published her first veterinary study that she worked on while at Colorado State University: Quimby JM, Smith ML, Lunn KF. Evaluation of the effects of hospital visit stress on physiologic parameters in the cat. J Feline Med Surg. 2011 Oct;13(10):733-7.

Since earning her DVM degree, Dr Smith has stayed working in general practice in New Mexico. She now resides in Albuquerque with her husband and two middle school boys and works full time at Blue Cross Animal Clinic, a locally owned, small animal clinic.  She is now very excited to combine her past experience in research with her current passion in veterinary medicine with the Reverse2 CKD study.