Tom J. Smith, MD

Professional Titles

• The Harry J. Duffey Family Professor of Palliative Medicine
• Director of Palliative Medicine

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Oncology

Background

Centers and Institutes

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center

Clinical Trials Summary

Learn more about clinical trials at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Recent News Articles and Media Coverage

• Pain Secrets, PBS November 27, 2021

Additional Academic Titles

Joint Appointment in Medicine

Contact for Research Inquiries

Phone: (410) 955-2091

Research Interests

Palliative Care

Research Summary

Communication about serious illness

Neuropathy

PubMed

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/thomas.smith.4/bibliography/47220959/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

Selected Publications

• Smith TJ, Coyne PJ, Staats PS, Deer T, Stearns LJ, Rauck RL, Boortz-Marx RL, Buchser E, Català E, Bryce DA, Cousins M, Pool GE. Intrathecal implantable drug delivery systems give sustained pain control, less side effects, and possibly better survival for six months: results of a randomized clinical trial vs. comprehensive medical management. Ann Oncol. 2005; May;16(5):825-33

• Smith TJ, Staats PS, Deer T, Stearns LJ, Rauck RL, Boortz-Marx RL, Buchser E, Català E, Bryce DA, Coyne PJ, Pool GE; Implantable Drug Delivery Systems Study Group. Randomized clinical trial of an implantable drug delivery system compared with comprehensive medical management for refractory cancer pain: impact on pain, drug-related toxicity, and survival. J Clin Oncol. 2002 Oct 1;20(19):4040-9. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2002.02.118. PMID: 12351602

• Karri J, Marathe A, Wang EJ, Smith TJ. The Use of Scrambler Therapy in Treating Chronic Pain Syndromes: A Systematic Review. Neuromodulation. 2022 Jun 9:S1094-7159(22)00681-X. doi: 10.1016/j.neurom.2022.04.045. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35691908

• Loprinzi C, Le-Rademacher JG, Majithia N, McMurray RP, O'Neill CR, Bendel MA, Beutler A, Lachance DH, Cheville A, Strick DM, Black DF, Tilburt JC, Smith TJ. Scrambler therapy for chemotherapy neuropathy: a randomized phase II pilot trial. Support Care Cancer. 2019 Jun 17. doi: 10.1007/s00520-019-04881-3. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31209630

• Marineo G, Iorno V, Gandini C, Moschini V, Smith TJ. Scrambler Therapy May Relieve Chronic Neuropathic Pain More Effectively Than Guideline Based Drug Management: Results of a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2012 Jan;43(1):87-95

Patents

Treatment and prevention of oral mucositis with growth factors.,

Co-patentee.  Triton Biosciences, Alameda, CA. Royalties used to create 3 endowed funds: VCU Libraries, VCU Excellence in Genetics, Chippewa Local High School college music scholarship.

US Patent 5102870

Honors

• Ellen L. Stovall Award for Innovation in Patient-Centered Cancer Care given to whose whose career shows commitment to innovations in patient-centered cancer care helps deliver better outcomes and a higher quality of life for those living with and beyond cancer., National Coalition for Cancer Survivors (NCCS), 11/12/20
• Walther Cancer Foundation Palliative and Supportive Care in Oncology Endowed Award and Lecture to recognize a distinguished lecturer and leader with multiple, significant, and enduring contributions to palliative and supportive care in oncology through the prevention, assessment and management of cancer- and treatment-related suffering., ASCO & Walther Foundation, 10/26/19
• AAHPM Project on Death in America National Leadership Award, for a physician leader who has advanced the field of palliative care by the education of the next generation of palliative care leaders., AAHPM, 3/20/19
• Visionary Award given to key individuals who have been critical in building and shaping the hospice and palliative medicine field over the past 30 years., American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 11/10/17
• Trish Greene Award for research that improves patient and family quality of life, with special attention to rural areas., American Cancer Society, 1/1/15
• Executive Board, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 1/1/14
• Nominee, AAHPM 25th Anniversary Visionaries, 1/1/13
• Best Doctors in Maryland, America's Top Doctors Editions 1-12, 1/1/13
• Top Doctors, U. S. News and World Report, 1/1/12
• Fellow, American Society of Clinical Oncology, 1/1/12
• Award for "Best Article in Medical Professionalism", American Board of Internal Medicine, 1/1/12
• Designated Center of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care Award, European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), 7/1/10
• Best Doctors in America, Medical Oncology and Hospice, 1/1/10
• Educational Innovation Award, VCU, 9/1/09
• Virginia A. Crockford Award, Central Virginia Health Planning Agency, 10/1/08
• Consensus Panel Leadership Award, National Palliative Care, 10/1/08
• "Statesman Award" for 20 years of outstanding service to ASCO, ASCO, 6/1/08
• HOPE Small Practice Leadership Award: rural cancer outreach, Hematology Oncology News International (HONI), 5/1/08
• "Robert W. Irby MD" Award for philanthropic service to the foundation and VCU, Medical College of Virginia Foundation, 5/1/08
• HOPE Oncology Practice Leadership Award, Hematology Oncology News International (HONI), 5/1/08
• Faculty Award for Distinguished Clinical Care, VCU Medical Center Department of Medicine, 1/1/06
• VCU Outstanding Teacher Award, Hematology/Oncology M-2 course, 1/1/06
• University Award to best University-based palliative care program, International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care, 1/1/06
• VCU Outstanding Teacher Award, M-II Hematology/Oncology Course, 1/1/02
• National Award for service, UNOS, 4/1/01
• Community Outreach Award, Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs, 1/1/01
• America's Top Doctors for Cancer, Castle Connelly, 1/1/01
• Pioneering programs in Palliative Care, Milbank Memorial Fund, 1/1/00
• "Distinguished Clinician Award" as the outstanding clinician at the medical center, MCV-VCU, 1/1/00
• National "Humanism in Medicine Award", New Jersey Health Care Foundation, 1/1/00
• Scholarship Award in Patient-Physician Communications, Medical College of Virginia, 1/1/94
• Sharon H. Kohlenberg Health care Service Award, Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, 1/1/93
• Jessie Ball duPont Fund Making a Difference Award, Rural Cancer Outreach Program, 1/1/93
• Frank Parker Prize, Yale University School of Medicine, 1/1/79
• MD cum laude., Yale School of Medicine, 1/1/79
• Ramsey Award, Yale University School of Medicine, 1/1/77
• BS summa cum laude, University of Akron, 1/1/74

Lectures & Presentations

• Affordability of Cancer Care- A Global Perspective, Chair: Costs of Cancer Care: Affordability Access and Policy, ASCO Annual Meeting Education Session, 1/24/12
• Cancer Care Delivery Reforms: A Variety of Approaches, National Coalition of Cancer Survivors Cancer Policy Roundtable, Washington DC, 1/7/13
• Chemotherapy Toxicity or Disease Progression? How Can We Help Patients Understand What's Happening to Them? (TH331)Cancer SIG.
• NCCS Cancer Survivors Seminar, Washington DC, 1/28/12
• New Horizons in Palliative Care: Making the Case for Palliative Care Involvement in Cancer Survivors (SA503)., AAHPM National Meeting, 1/16/13
• Scrambler Therapy - It works but how and why? Ether Dome MGH, Pain and Palliative Care Grand Rounds, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, 1/20/13
• "Getting oncologists and palliative care to work together" and "How to do palliative care in the oncologist office", West Virginia University Eastern Branch and Hospice of the Panhandle, Martinsville, 1/19/12
• American College of Osteopathic Internists national meeting, It's not just code status: update on palliative care., Baltimore, 1/9/14
• Bending the cost curve in cancer care: dreams versus reality, Kings College Hospital, Dame Cicely Saunders Institute, London, 1/28/13
• Bending the Cost Curve of American Medicine, Plenary session, AAHPM, Sutter Health, California, 1/7/12
• Bending the cost curve with better care. Fred Hutchinson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Seattle, 1/22/12
• Carroll County Hospital Grand Rounds. "Increasing use of palliative care in usual medical care.", 1/2/13
• Changing our practice to incorporate clinical pathways and more advance care planning. Providence Health System, Portland, 1/21/12
• Choosing Wisely - "Choosing words wisely - integrating costs into discussion", AAHPM annual meeting: "Institute of Medicine Report on Medicare in Crisis", 1/13/14
• Clinical experience with Scrambler Therapy: mechanisms and clinical results., Plenary Session, Korean Pain Society, 1/28/14
• Compassion Fatigue, The Coalition Against Pediatric Pain Medical Think Tank on EDS and Co-Morbid Conditions, Arlington, 1/14/14
• Convincing oncologists to use palliative and hospice care., California HealthCare Foundation webinar., 1/6/13
• Creating hybridomas of oncology and palliative care., 2013 Annual Harvey and Andrea Rosenthal Lecture in Palliative Care. MGH-DFCI, 1/21/13
• Death gets a makeover, CBS, New York, 1/25/12
• Designing the best concurrent clinical trial., AAHPM, 1/7/12
• Educational Forum: Advocacy (TH321) "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question in HPM": Communicating AAHPM's Choosing Wisely Recommendations to Patients and the Public."
• Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of palliative care, Plenary Session, Japanese Palliative Care Conference, Sapporo, 1/12/14
• Getting ONC and PC to work together, GBMC Oncology Grand Rounds, 1/25/13
• Hope, Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center Grand Rounds, 1/30/12
• How to talk with people about serious illness, NCCS Rays of Hope event - Cancer Care in America, Washington DC, 1/27/12
• Improving care across the continuum: the IOM report, NCCS Cancer Policy Roundtable, Washington DC, 1/24/13
• Improving Oncology Practice, Plenary Lecture, 2014 Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC) Conference, Toronto, 1/12/14
• Improving quality of life throughout the oncology treatment spectrum, Symposium on survivorship and dying, Russian Oncology Association, Moscow, 1/13/13
• Improving the quality of cancer care, Keynote Speaker, National Cancer Business Summit, Dallas, 1/18/12
• Improving the quality of cancer care by integrating palliative care...really, University of Maryland Greenbaum Cancer Center Grand Rounds, Baltimore, 1/8/13
• Integrating Palliative Care and Oncology: the evidence base, New York City., 1/7/12
• Integrating palliative care into our practices today., Maryland Eastern Shore Oncology Association., 1/7/12
• Integrating palliative care into the Oncology office., St Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, 1/8/14
• Integration of Palliative Care and Communication Strategies for Patients on Phase 1 Clinical Trials, Medical Grand Rounds, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, 1/7/14
• It's not just about code status anymore. The modern view of palliative care., Hospitalist Medicine Annual Conference, Las Vegas, 1/25/14
• Living better electrically for pain relief; Making room in the cancer budget for new drugs by altering the cancer cost curve., Geisenger Clinic, Danville, 1/3/11
• Living well with advanced cancer, Johns Hopkins Survivorship program national webinar., 1/18/13
• Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium, Talking with patients and families about money., 1/12/14
• Making palliative care work in the real world, All-Caribean Palliative Care conference, Cayman Islands
• Oncologists and hospice - bridging the gaps, OptumHealth national webinar, 1/12/13
• Oncology and palliative care - working together, Lecture, XIII Congress of CIS and Eurasia oncologists and radiologists, Kazakhstan, CIS, 4/28/22
• Pain management in the cancer patient, 25th Annual Johns Hopkins Nuclear Molecular Imaging Conference, Baltimore, 1/8/14
• Palliative care and decision making when cure is no longer possible, National webinar, NCCN, Philadelphia, 1/10/13
• Palliative care and oncolog, Maryland Cancer Collaborative Keynote Speaker, Annapolis, 1/5/12
• Palliative care in Oncology: the who, what, when, where, and why, Oncology Grand Rounds, Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore, 1/14/11
• Palliative care of the breast cancer patient, 7th Annual Johns Hopkins Breast cancer Program., 1/8/14
• Palliative care to improve health system performance., Atlantic General Health Systems, Overlook Medical Center, Summit, 1/29/14
• Persuading physicians to engage palliative and hospice care earlier -- the anti-death panel approach., NHPCO national webinar, 1/28/14
• Reducing the cost of cancer care without rationing., Reusch Center at Georgetown University, Washington DC, 1/2/11
• Session on Choosing Wisely as a November Webinar;, Train-the-Trainer Session at 2014 Assembly, Reprising AAHPM Annual Assembly, 1/7/13
• The economics of lung cancer treatment, University of Arkansas Health Science Center, Little Rock, 1/5/12
• The evidence that palliative care improves lives while saving money, Plenary Session., Chicago Supportive Oncology Conference, 1/26/12
• The Institute of Medicine report on Medicare Cancer Care, Annual meeting plenary, American Psychosocial Oncology Society, Tampe, 1/14/14
• Transitioning to palliative treatment at end of life, NCCN National webinar., 1/10/13
• Treatment of post herpetic neuropathy., AAHPM, 1/8/12
• Update on Palliative Care, lecture, international, 10th Virtual Seminar Series on Advances in Palliative Care. St. Luke's Medical Center, Manilla, Philippines, 3/2/22
• Ways for oncologists to reduce the cost of care today, Summit on Optimizing High Value Cancer Care: Addressing the Cost of Drugs and Novel Technologies., ASCO, Alexandria, 1/27/14
• What must change for ONC and PC to fully integrate - national policy and finance trends., Brigham and Womens-DFCI Palliative Care Grand Rounds, 1/22/13
• When is chemotherapy indicated in the last weeks of life, and when not?, AAHPM, 1/8/12

Memberships

• American Cancer Society, Hanover County Unit, Board of Directors
• American Medical Teams for Africa, World Health Organization/American, Medical Teams for Africa Cancer Pain Relief Programme, Tanzania-Zanzibar, Director of Cancer Palliative Care Programs
• Ashland Friends of the Library Board
• Chris Desch Foundation Board, Founding Member
• Free Health Clinic, Richmond, VA, Physician Cross-Over
• Mountain of Trash (community cleanup and recycling), Co-coordinator, Ashland
• Pamunkey Regional Library, Hanover County, Children's Story Hour Reader
• Patrick Henry Half Marathon, Richmond Road Runners, Medical Director
• Richmond Friends Meeting, Richmond, VA
• Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs Camp Happyland, summer camp physicals
• Homewood Campus Baltimore Friends Meeting

Professional Activities

Amer Acad Hospice Palliative Medicine, Board Member, 7/1/15 - 6/30/21