He graduated from Uniformed Services University School of Medicine in Bethesda in 1980. He completed a family medicine residency at Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu. A career in the U.S. Army included tours in Germany and Kuwait. After retiring in 2000, he and his family served for eight years with Mission to the World at Presbyterian Medical Clinic in Belize, Central America. In 2009, the Smith family moved to Dalton, Georgia, where Dr. Smith directs Grace Medical Outreach Ministry. He and his wife Karon have four children and one grandson.