Dr. Timothy R. Smith

Dr. Timothy Smith is a neurosurgeon-scientist who seeks to understand, predict, and improve clinical outcomes for neurosurgical patients by combining the use of epidemiological data, advanced statistical analysis, machine learning, and emerging biological/information system technologies. Trained as an epidemiologist and statistician in addition to his neurosurgical residency, he focuses primarily on the utilization of data science to optimize neurosurgical patient care.Dr. Smith’s clinical interests focus on tumors of the brain and spine that arise innately from the central nervous system and the meningeal covering of the brain, or metastasize from other primary cancer sites. Dr. Smith is the Director of the Computational Neuroscience Outcomes Center (CNOC) in the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. This center strives to collect and maintain prospective data on all neurosurgical patients cared for by the department, synthesize high volume data streams, as well as implement process and outcome improvement through comparison with national data.Dr. Smith is committed to the education of future neurosurgeons and plays an active role in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s neurosurgical residency program. He is a committee vice-chair for Medical-Legal Issues with the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS) as well as the President of the Boston Society for Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, the oldest academic neuroscience society in the United States. He serves on numerous committees both in the US and worldwide which focus on the ethics of neurosurgery, oncology, skull base surgery, and neurologic outcomes assessment. He is an active member of committees at Brigham and Women’s Hospital addressing information technology, physician wellness, and process improvement.Dr. Smith maintains active membership in both national and international neurosurgical societies, including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the North American Skull Base Society, the Society for Neuro-Oncology, and the Pituitary Society. He presents his research regularly at national and international meetings. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and several book chapters.

Dr. Smith is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Delirium. His top areas of expertise are Pituitary Tumor, Brain Tumor, Meningioma, Awake Craniotomy, and Laminectomy.

His clinical research consists of co-authoring 360 peer reviewed articles. MediFind looks at clinical research from the past 15 years. In particular, he has co-authored 2 articles in the study of Delirium.