For the past 14 years Gil Smith has been managing director of corporate research collaborations, and licensing officer, for Duke University’s School of Medicine. That means he's responsible for all of the the medical school’s research-related interactions with commercial entities including clinical trials, non-clinical sponsored research, material transfers, and other related endeavors. He also has intellectual property management responsibilities, particularly in the context of commercially sponsored research projects.

In addition to his W&L degree, he holds a M.S. in organic chemistry from Northwestern and a Ph.D.in biochemistry from UVa. He is the holder of four patents and has written various scientific papers (though, he notes, “not recently”).

He’s married to Wendy Weiss Smith, a Sweet Briar graduate who also has a master’s degree from the University of Delaware and teaches English as a second language. In their spare time the Smiths like to travel with W&L’s Alumni College. Gil is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa and of Sigma Xi scientific research society.