Background & Bio
Martha Smith is the Missouri Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Director and Public Health Nursing Manager at the Department of Health and Senior Services. She also oversees the Title V MCH Services Block Grant and is a Branch Director in the Emergency Response Center. Martha earned her Bachelor of Science (BS) and a dual Master of Science (MS) in Nursing from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, specializing in Child/Family Advanced Practice Nursing and Nursing/Healthcare Administration. She began her career in nursing in 1986, was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing in 1991, and became certified as a Child/Family Clinical Nurse Specialist in 1994.
Her professional experience encompasses a diversity of nursing roles, including patient care provider, clinical nurse specialist, nurse consultant, nurse educator, healthcare regulator, healthcare administrator, and program manager/director, with undergraduate and graduate didactic and clinical instruction in Child/Family Nursing, Obstetrical Nursing, Human Growth & Development, Leadership & Management, Community and Public Health, Maternal and Child Health, and Life Course Perspective. She has worked in various healthcare settings, including primary, secondary, and tertiary care, community- and home-based care, public health, state government, and academia, but her passion is population-based maternal and child health, seen through the lens of the Life Course Perspective. Martha’s public health experience includes maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting, children and youth with special care needs, school health, emergency preparedness, community-based health education and screening, state public health program management, and statewide public health system leadership. Since 1997, Ms. Smith has owned a private healthcare consulting company, providing consultation to hospitals, schools, home/hospice agencies, other healthcare providers and organizations, and private entities. In her personal life, Martha is the proud mother of adult quadruplets (2 boys & 2 girls) and volunteers as a mentor for youth, young pregnant women, and new moms.
