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A. Gordon Smith, MD

Associate Professor of Neurology and Pathology

Dr. Gordon Smith is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and Salt Lake City Veterans Administration Hospital.  He is originally from Richmond Virginia.  After receiving a degree in Archaeology from the University of Virginia, he attended medical school at the Mayo Clinic where he worked in Dr. Anthony Windebank's laboratory studying toxic neuropathies.  He completed neurology residency and neuromuscular and clinical neurophysiology training at the University of Michigan where he began his work on early diabetic neuropathy under the mentorship of Dr. Eva Feldman.  He moved to the University of Utah in 1997.

His primary area of interest is neuromuscular and peripheral nerve disease.  He is the Director of the University of Utah Peripheral Neuropathy Clinic and Cutaneous Innervation Laboratory. His research focuses on peripheral neuropathy associated with early diabetes and metabolic syndrome.  His group has established a relationship between prediabetes, hyperlipiemia and obesity and peripheral neuropathy.  In work funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), they have demonstrated that diet and exercise results in transient re-growth of nerve fibers in the skin of patients with neuropathy associated with prediabetes.  Currently funded research projects include studies of he effects of aggressive diet and exercise on nerve regeneration in patients with obesity and established diabetes. 

Another major focus is identification of valid diagnostic and surrogate markers of very early nerve injury. Once established, diabetic neuropathy is difficult if not impossible to reverse.  Data from his laboratory suggests skin biopsy may be used to track nerve injury before patients even develop symptoms. This work holds promise to facilitate development of preventative therapies. An ongoing study tests this hypothesis by using aggressive lifestyle intervention to slow the decline in nerve fibers and prevent neuropathy in patients with diabetes.  His research is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and the University of Utah Vice President for Research.  He serves on the board of the Peripheral Nerve Society, the primary international organization dedicated to developing new therapies for patients with peripheral nerve disease.  He organized and hosted the 2007 meeting of the PNS at Snowbird, Utah.  He serves as a reviewer for numerous journals including Neurology, Muscle and Nerve and Neurobiology of Disease.  He is a member of the grant review committee of the ADA and is an ad hoc reviewer for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).  He has lectured widely on different aspects of neuromuscular disorders nationally and internationally.  He is the co-editor of the Handbook of Peripheral Neuropathy (Informa HealthCare) and has published over 40 articles, 7 book chapters, and over 50 abstracts. 

Dr. Smith is actively involved in medical school and post-graduate medical education.  He has trained 12 neuromuscular fellows, 6 of whom are in academic positions, and has mentored a number of resident and medical student research projects.  He has served as an investigator on a number of clinical trials of different neuromuscular disorders.

Dr. Smith also directs the Therapeutic Botulinum Toxin Clinic.  Botulinum Toxins such as Botox or Myobloc may be used to effectively treat a number of disorders including cervical dystonia, writer's or musician's cramp, blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm, drooling secondary to Parkinson's Disease, and spasticity.  He has lectured in courses and taught workshops across the country and his clinic provides focused training for clinicians across the western United States.

Selected Publications

• Smith AG, Rose K, Singleton JR. Idiopathic neuropathy patients are at high risk for metabolic syndrome. J Neurol Sci. 2008;273:25-28.

• Singleton JR, Bixby B, Russell JW, Feldman EL, Peltier A, Goldstein J, Howard J, Smith AG. The Utah Early Neuropathy Scale: a senstivei clinical scale for early sensory predominant neuropathy. J Perpih Nerv Syst. 2008;13:218-227.

• Smith AG, Russell J, Feldman EL, Goldstein J, Peltier A, Smith S, Hamwi J, Pollari D, Bixby B, Howard J, Singleton JR. Lifestyle intervention for pre-diabetic neuropathy. Diabetes Care. 2006;29:1294-9.

• Smith AG, Howard JR, Kroll R, Ramachandran P, Hauer P, Singleton JR, McArthur J. The reliability of skin biopsy with measurement of intraepidermal nerve fiber density. J Neurol Sci. 2005;228:65-9.

• Smith AG, Singleton JR. The diagnostic yield of a standardized approach to idiopathic sensory-predominant neuropathy. Arch Intern Med. 2005;164:1021-5.

• Smith AG. Pearls and pitfalls in the therapeutic use of botulinum toxin. Seminars in Neurology. 2004;24:165-74.

• Smith AG, Ramachandran P, Tripp S, Singleton JR. Epidermal nerve innervation in impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes-associated neuropathy. Neurology. 2001;57:1701-4.