Judith A. Smith, MHA

December 2020 Pioneer Award recipient

Judy Smith has been at the forefront of designing state-of-the-art health care facilities for mothers, babies, and children since the beginning of her career. Her deeply humanistic work embodies an understanding of the crucial need for family support in newborn intensive care and labor and delivery environments. Ms. Smith shares her passion for patient- and family-centered care with her clients and her colleagues, fostering the design of health care facilities that embrace and support this approach to health care. As a result of her efforts, obstetrical and newborn ICU facilities have been completely transformed in a generation, integrating new technology and enabling personalized, compassionate care.

Ms. Smith joined the Health Guidelines Revision Committee in 1992 and made an immediate impact on the content of the Guidelines. She provided the essential expertise to improve and expand the design standards for newborn intensive care units and obstetrical facilities and was instrumental in the creation of a new section on freestanding birth centers. An unwavering advocate for children’s health, Ms. Smith led development of a new chapter specific to children’s hospitals in the 2014 Guidelines.

A founding member of the international consensus committee that writes the Recommended Standards for Newborn ICU Design, Ms. Smith has been a bridge between the Guidelines and the research and practice community. Her skillful leadership, open-mindedness, and consummate knowledge have ensured Ms. Smith’s legacy as a major force in expanding the breadth and reach of the Guidelines documents.