Dr. Cardinale Smith

Dr. Cardinale Smith, MD, PhD, is a thoracic medical oncologist and palliative medicine expert specializing in all types of lung cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, and thymoma. She sees patients at Memorial Hospital, the main hospital at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and at MSK Westchester. In addition to her clinical role, she serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at MSK, where she oversees clinical quality, patient safety, regulatory compliance, and clinical operations across the institution. In this leadership capacity, she works to foster the best treatment outcomes for patients while supporting and empowering the teams of doctors, nurses, advanced practice providers, and non-clinical staff who deliver care every day. Her commitment to medicine is deeply personal, shaped by her upbringing in an immigrant family and her mother's experience of having her dream to become a physician sidelined by the barriers faced by women of color. Those early lessons instilled in Dr. Smith a profound dedication to social justice and health equity, principles that continue to guide her work.

Dr. Smith's research focuses on improving the quality of care for people with cancer, developing new models for delivering equitable cancer care, and strengthening communication between patients and physicians. She is currently leading a National Institutes of Health-funded study examining how a cancer doctor's attitudes and beliefs can affect clinical communication and outcomes. She also conducts research supported by the American Cancer Society's Cancer Health Research Centers, with a focus on assessing community-based navigation and identifying the barriers that prevent people from accessing cancer care. Her work reflects a sustained commitment to addressing systemic gaps in oncology care delivery.

In her clinical practice, Dr. Smith approaches patient care as a partnership, listening carefully to each person's concerns, goals, and values before developing a treatment plan grounded in data and tailored to individual needs. She prioritizes clear communication so that patients fully understand the risks and benefits of their options and feel empowered to make decisions aligned with their own values and preferences. Her integration of palliative medicine into her thoracic oncology practice reflects her belief that quality of life is central to cancer treatment, not secondary to it. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and reading fantasy fiction.