Tara C. Smith

Dr. Smith joined the faculty of Kent State University's College of Public Health and Health Sciences (formerly the College of Public Health) in August 2013. An Ohio native, she previously spent nine years in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, where she directed the College’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and attained the rank of associate professor with tenure. She completed post-doctoral training in molecular epidemiology at the University of Michigan prior to beginning her professorship at the University of Iowa. She obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Toledo and a B.S. in biology from Yale University. 

Dr. Smith’s research generally focuses on zoonotic infections (infections which are transferred between animals and humans). She was the first to identify livestock-associated strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the United States, and has pioneered the investigation of this organism in the U.S. Dr. Smith has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. (Full publication list can be found at Google Scholar). She has received funding from AHRQ, USDA, and NIOSH to carry out these studies. She has presented her research at numerous national and international platforms, including talks on Capitol Hill on the topic of agriculture and antibiotic resistance. Her work has been profiled in many major publications, including Science, Nature and The New York Times, as well as in "Superbug: the Fatal Menace of MRSA" by Maryn McKenna and "Pig Tales: an Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat" by Barry Estabrook. 

Dr. Smith is also very active in science communication and outreach. She maintained a science blog from 2005-2018 and has written books on Group A Streptococcus, Group B Streptococcus, and Ebola. A second book on Ebola, "Ebola's Message," was published by MIT Press in 2016. She also writes about infectious disease for several national sites, penned a column for SELF.com, and serves as a member of the advisory board of the Zombie Research Society. She lives in rural Ohio.

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Selected Publications, of 130 to date (full list is available at Google Scholar):

Smith TC. Missed Connections. Science, 388(6745):369.DOI: 10.1126/science.adv9772. 2025. 

Smith TC. HIV Denial in the COVID Era. AIDS and Behavior, 29:309–316, 2024. 

Smith TC, Gorski DH. Infertility: a common target of antivaccine misinformation campaigns. Vaccine, 42(4), 924-929, 2024. 

Smith TC. Long COVID: Alice Evans, brucellosis, and reflections on infectious causes of chronic disease. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 77(12):1644-1647, 2023. 

Smith TC. Smallpox immunization in colonial America: all too relevant today. American Journal of Public Health, 113(5):463-464, 2023. 

Zhu Y, Beam M, Ming Y, Egbert N, Smith TC. A Social Cognitive Theory Approach to Understanding Parental Attitudes and Intentions to Vaccinate Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Vaccines: 10(11), 1876; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10111876, 2022. 

Smith TC, Rubinstein DR. Digging the Rabbit Hole, COVID-19 Edition: Anti-Vaccine Themes and the Discourse Around COVID-19. Microbes and Infection, 22(10): 608-610, 2020. 

Egbert N, Goodall CE, McCullough JL, Smith TC. Headlines and hashtags: communicating science during an outbreak. Microbes and Infection, 22(10): 508–510, 2020. 

Heaton CJ, Gerbig GR, Sensius LD, Patel V, Smith TC. Staphylococcus aureus epidemiology in wildlife: a systematic review. Antibiotics, 9, 89, 2020.

Smith TC, Thapaliya D, Bhatta S, Mackey S, Engohang-Ndong J, Carrel M. Geographic distribution of livestock-associated Staphylococcus aureus in the United States. Microbes and Infection, 20(6):323-327, 2018.

Wardyn SE, Stegger M, Price LB, Smith TC. Whole genome analysis of recurrent Staphylococcus aureust571/ST398 infection in an Iowa Farmer. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 24(1):153-154, 2018.

Smith TC. Vaccine rejection and hesitancy: a review and call to action. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 4(3):ofx146, 2017.

Thapaliya D, Dalman M, Kadariya J, Little K, Mansell V, Taha MY, Grenier D, Smith TC. Prevalence and Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus in Geese Feces Collected from State Parks in Northeast Ohio. EcoHealth, 14(2):303-309, 2017.

Nair R, Wu J; Carrel M; O’Brien A; Quick M; Farina S; Wardyn S; Thapaliya D; Grenier D; Smith TC. Prospective multicenter surveillance identifies Staphylococcus aureus infections caused by livestock-associated strains in an agricultural state. Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 85(3):360-366, 2016.

Smith TC. Zombie infections: epidemiology, treatment, and prevention. BMJ, 351:h6423 , 2015. 

Wardyn SE, Forshey BM, Farina S, Kates AE, Nair R, Quick M, Wu J, Hanson BM, O’Malley S, Shows H, Heywood E, Beane-Freeman LE, Lynch CF, Carrel M, Smith TC. Swine farming is a risk factor for infection with and high prevalence of multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 61(1):59-66, 2015. 

McDanel JS, Perencevich EN, Diekema DJ, Herwaldt LA, Smith TC, Chrischilles EA, Dawson JD, Jiang L, Goto M, Schweizer ML. Comparative Effectiveness of Beta-lactams versus Vancomycin for Treatment of Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus Bloodstream Infections among 122 Hospitals. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 61(3):361-7, 2015. 

Smith TC. Livestock-Associated Staphylococcus aureus: The United States Experience. PLoS Pathogens, 11(2): e1004564, 2015.

Price LB, Stegger M, Hasman H, Aziz M, Andersen PS, Pearson A, Waters AE, Foster JT, Schupp J, Gillece J, Driebe E, Liu CM, Larsen J, Springer B, Zdovc I, Battisti A, Franco A, Żmudzki J, Schwarz S, Butaye P, Jouy E, Pomba C, Porrero C, Smith TC, Robinson AD, Weese JS, Keim P, Skov R, Aarestrup FM. Staphylococcus aureus CC398: Host Adaptation and Emergence of Methicillin Resistance in Livestock. mBIO, 3(1):e00305-11, 2012.

Moritz ED, Smith TC. Livestock-associated Staphylococcus aureus in a childcare worker. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 17:742-3, 2011.

Smith TC, Harper A, Male M, Kroeger J, Tinkler G, Moritz-Korolev E, Herwaldt L, Diekema D. High prevalence of MRSA found in Midwestern US Swine and Swine workers.  PLoS ONE, 4(1):e4258, 2009.