Two volunteer leaders have been named to fill top positions on two of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) advisory boards.
The appointees are volunteers who are critical to the success of VUMC’s mission as an institution, passionate about the work at Vanderbilt and committed to serve as philanthropic supporters and advocates in the community.
Anderson Spickard III, M.D., M.S., a 1989 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) and member of the Canby Robinson Society (CRS) Board since 2009, has been named the CRS Board’s president.
As president Spickard will lead and engage the CRS board, created in 1979 to honor and encourage those who give financial support to the education, research and patient care programs of VUMC. Today, the CRS board advocates, advises and encourages financial support of a wide spectrum of programs across the Medical Center.
Spickard, on the Vanderbilt faculty since 1995, is assistant dean of Education Design and Technology and associate professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at VUSM.
Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Smith, of Fairacres, New Mexico, has been named chair of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute (VEI) Advisory Board.
Formed in 2006, the VEI Advisory Board is an advocacy, fundraising and advising organization for the VEI.
The members are actively involved in helping educate and reach important constituents in the community and secure investments and other financial resources required to fund the highest priorities of the VEI.
Smith was a U.S. Magistrate Judge for more than 14 years, retiring in 2008, and served for more than six years as a District Judge in New Mexico’s Seventh Judicial Circuit.
He and his wife, Judy, have established the Judy and Leslie Smith Fellowship in Pediatric Ophthalmology, the Leslie and Judy Smith Discovery Fund in Ophthalmology and the Leslie M. and Evelyn C. Smith Chair in Ophthalmology. He has served on the VEI board since 2009.
“We are deeply grateful that Anderson, with his lengthy and strong connection to our School of Medicine, has agreed to lead the Canby Robinson Society board,” said Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of VUMC and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
“And I want to also express my gratitude to Les for chairing the Eye Institute’s Advisory Board. These are key volunteer leadership positions, and we are indeed grateful to both of them for their time and dedication to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.”
The new leaders will preside over board meetings held in the fall and spring and will attend key events for their respective boards.
