Dr. Pamela Smith, completed specialty training in psychiatry at New York–Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia & Cornell and later served on the faculty of the UCLA Medical School and staff of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute & Hospital. She has worked in international humanitarian aid providing mental health training to clinicians serving impoverished communities in South Africa, people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda, survivors of the tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, survivors of the earthquake in Haiti, and refugees of the conflicts in Iraq and Darfur. Dr. Smith has participated in coordinating projects with organizations and agencies including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), International Medical Corps (IMC), World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In addition, she has served on the peer review panel of the United Nations/Inter-Agency Standing Committee Mental Health Task Force developing international guidelines for mental health interventions during emergency disaster relief.
Dr. Smith has also provided clinical services to varied resource-limited communities in urban and rural areas of the United States and has worked for the U.S. Indian Health Services (IHS ) supporting the mental health of Native Americans.