Emerson Smith is a medical sociologist. He received his Ph.D. from Emory University, his M.A. from Texas Christian University, and his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is President of Metromark Research, a Clinical Research Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, was a Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Exeter in Devon, England and a sociologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital. He is a member of the faculty of the American Hospital Association's Health Forum, speaking on physician culture, the cost conundrum, healthcare marketing, global healthcare and patient safety. He is a member of EURADA, the European Association of Development Agencies. He is a Press Ganey speaker.