Dr. Cynthia Smith, DVM, serves as the President & CEO for the National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF), where she is charged with furthering the nonprofit’s mission to improve and protect life for marine mammals through innovative science, service, and education.

Dr. Smith has led the NMMF since 2010, and also served as Chief Medical Officer for more than a decade. She continues to lead projects focused on marine mammal health and welfare, in the US and internationally. Dr. Smith also provides her veterinary and conservation medicine expertise for high-priority marine mammal projects, especially those focused on at-risk, threatened, and critically endangered dolphins, porpoises, and whales.

Dr. Smith and the NMMF team provide veterinary, research, animal care, and management support to the US Navy. Building on this experience, she played a lead veterinary role in NOAA’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, specifically to determine the potential health impacts of the disaster on wild dolphins. The NMMF continues to study the long-term impacts of oil exposure on dolphins and whales in the northern Gulf.

Internationally, Dr. Smith served as the General Program Manager for the Consortium of VaquitaCPR, a global effort to rescue the endangered vaquita porpoise from extinction. She co-founded JANE: Justice & Action Network for the Earth, which was selected as a top 100 finalist for MacArthur Foundation’s 100 & Change Competition. Most recently, she helped launch Operation GRACE: Global Rescue of At-Risk Cetaceans and Ecosystems, with projects spanning North America, South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

Dr. Smith is committed to advancing global marine mammal protection by combining her expertise in veterinary medicine, conservation research, and nonprofit leadership to create meaningful, lasting impact. Her leadership has earned numerous honors, including Red Bull Hero of the Year (2019), San Diego Magazine’s Woman of the Year finalist (2022), and Top Woman Leader in San Diego by Women We Admire (2024). She was also a finalist for the San Diego Business Journal’s Nonprofit Citizenship Award.

She holds a B.S. in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Tufts University. In 2023, Dr. Smith joined the Tufts University Board of Trustees and Cummings School Board of Advisors. She is passionate about life-long learning, and in 2025, earned an Executive Education certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School.