Dr. Richard Smith Receives Distinguished Service Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DETROIT – Richard Smith, M.D., long-time Ob-Gyn physician at Henry Ford Hospital, has been awarded the Fred W. Whitehouse Distinguished Service Award by the Henry Ford Medical Group.

During his career, Dr. Smith has been active in local, state, national and international efforts to improve prenatal care for teens. He played a leading role in advocating for both state and federal legislation that improved prenatal care for women and teens across the country, and his testimony before Congress in 1985 helped establish a National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality.

In Michigan, he worked with the legislature to make prenatal care a basic health service and in 2009 co-chaired the Perinatal Regionalization Task Force commissioned by the Legislature.

In addition, Dr. Smith served as the 144th President of the Michigan State Medical Society and as chair of the Henry Ford Medical Group Board of Governors.

To be honored with the award, a physician with the Henry Ford Medical Group must:

• have exemplary clinical practice and/or clinical research,
• contribute significantly to teaching,
• earn a national reputation in his field,
• represent distinguished principles of professionalism, and
• provide service on medical group committees.

The award is named after Dr. Whitehouse, a long-time physician at Henry Ford Hospital, who is nationally recognized for his substantial contributions to the understanding of diabetes.

The award was presented to Dr. Smith at the Annual Medical Group Dinner.

Dr. Smith attended University of Michigan and the College of Medicine at Howard University. He began his residency at the age of 23. He has been on staff at Henry Ford Hospital for 33 years and in that time, he has delivered more than 8,000 newborns.