Dr. Leonard A. Smith is a Senior Research Scientist (ST) for Medical Countermeasures Technology, United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Maryland. As the Department of Defense’s lead laboratory for medical aspects of biological defense, USAMRIID develops vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics for laboratory and field use.

Prior to joining USAMRIID in August 1982, Dr. Smith was a scientific consultant for New Venture Capital Corporation, Washington, DC, and President of Chromotech, Inc., Washington, DC (June 1981 – August 1982); Senior Staff Fellow, Biosynthesis Section, Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (June 1979 – June 1981); Director, Research and Development, Bethesda Research Laboratories, Inc., Rockville, Maryland (October 1978 – May 1979); and Director of Production, Bethesda Research Laboratories, Inc (June 1976 – October 1978).

Dr. Smith attended Georgetown University, Washington, DC, where he received his PhD in Biochemistry in 1978. Dr. Smith received a BA degree in Chemistry and Zoology from the University of New Hampshire in 1972.