Clement Andrew Smith (1901 – December 31, 1988) was an American pediatrician and the editor-in-chief of the journal Pediatrics. Though he did not consider himself to be a neonatologist, much of his work concerned the care of the newborn infant. He was associated with Harvard Medical School for several decades and served a term as president of the American Pediatric Society.
Smith was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father, Shirley Smith, had been a University of Michigan English professor and vice president. Smith attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a master's degree in English and a medical degree. He joined Boston Children's Hospital as a physician in 1931.[1] With his colleagues at Harvard, Smith conducted research on the oxygen–hemoglobin dissociation curve in newborn babies to determine their oxygen requirements.[2]
Smith was the editor-in-chief of the journal Pediatrics for more than a decade.[3] He was the 1965-66 president of the American Pediatric Society.[4] He received the society's highest honor, the John Howland Award, in 1976.[5] The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Perinatal Pediatrics gave him its first Virginia Apgar Award in 1975, recognizing his work with newborns.[6]
Smith was married to Margaret Earhart, who died in 1960. His second wife, Radcliffe College president Mary Bunting, survived him.[7]