Dr. Andrew L. Smith MD FRCPC is an early-career academic psychiatrist at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH), an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, and a Clinician Investigator in the Neuroscience Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). He has a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Epidemiology from Memorial University of Newfoundland and a Certificate of Specialization in Business Applications of AI in Healthcare from Harvard School of Public Health.

Over his 3-year term as Medical Director of Inpatient Mental Health at TOH General Campus, Dr. Smith’s focus on team building, culture change, and efficient care delivery resulted in the hiring and retention of 5 internationally trained psychiatrists during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the successful orientation of academic psychiatrists from Italy, Russia, USA, France, and the UK to the Canadian medical system. As Medical Director, Dr. Smith oversaw a 35% reduction in median length of stay and spearheaded an interdisciplinary TOH Quality Initiative resulting in the elimination of an estimated 253 hours of physician administrative time per year.  

Since 2022, Dr. Smith has served on the board of directors of the Ottawa Hospital Physician’s Association (OHPA) and The Ottawa Hospital Academic Medical Organization (TOHAMO) and sits on Faculty Council for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He has peer-reviewed publications in the areas of olfactory learning, novel psychoactive substances, and artificial intelligence, and has ongoing entrepreneurial and research collaborations in several areas.

Dr. Smith’s clinical work has thus far focused primarily on general acute care psychiatry, with occasional as-needed coverage in Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES), outpatient mental health, and consultation liaison psychiatry. Having done private psychiatric assessments of various levels of complexity for WSIB’s Ontario Workers Network, Veteran’s Affairs Canada, Health Canada, and the RCMP, Dr. Smith is a sought-after independent medical examiner.

A skilled clinical teacher and orator, Dr. Smith regularly supervises a team of postgraduate trainees and medical students. He is a member of the Society for Medical Decision Making and the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.