Karen Kathleen

(Sandy) Smith

Karen Smith, M.D., who devoted her life to the care of children as a rural pediatrician, pediatric consultant, medical teacher, and medical director over three decades, has died at the age of 62.  The cause was cancer.   Cheerful, smart, and loyal, Dr. Smith is missed by her adoring spouse, Judith A. Schwedes, M.D, and by the multitude of friends and colleagues who knew her not only as Dr. Smith and Karen, but also by the affectionate nicknames, Sandy, Stormy, and Bhasa.  

Those of us who saw Dr. Smith in action admired the cool logic she applied to problems and the fearlessness with which she tackled these problems.  While a high school student in Reno, NV, she co-founded a suicide prevention hotline for teenagers, staffed by teenagers.  After graduating from the Tufts University School of Medicine and completing a residency in pediatrics at Seattle Children’s Hospital, Dr. Smith began her medical career by founding the first pediatric primary care practice in a remote area of rural California.  That was the beginning.

After moving to San Francisco, Dr. Smith served as a clinical instructor and faculty pediatrician at Oakland Children’s Hospital and San Francisco General Hospital and then instructor of pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine.  She worked as Medical Director of a UCSF community clinic for women and children and as Medical Director of an HMO health plan in San Francisco.  The position she held most recently was Medical Director for Interactive Training Resources at the University of Washington.

Dr. Smith’s varied medical career also included extensive research, consulting, and speaking on pediatric asthma management, immunization, obesity, child abuse, lead poisoning, healthcare for foster children, insurance reform and a wide range of other topics.  Her reach was broad and deep.            

Outside of medicine, Dr. Smith pursued a wide variety of interests, including photography, gardening, and traveling (on foot when younger) in places like India and South East Asia.  She maintained a life-long passion for Buddhist thought and practice.  Above all, she was devoted to her life partner and to her many friends.

Her spouse Judith A. Schwedes, M.D. of Vashon WA, survives Dr. Smith.  She is survived also by her brothers Bernard Jeffrey Smith of Colfax CA and Sean Patrick O’Leary Smith of Sparks, NV, and by cousin, Linda Smith Yarbrough of Kingman, AR.  Her parents, now deceased, were Katherine O’Leary Smith and Bernard James Smith of Reno, NV. Also deceased is her cousin Scott Smith.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Puget Sound Zen Center.

Please visit our online guest book at www.islandfuneral.com.

Paid Obituary.