 He then went to the State University at Buffalo where he obtained his Masters of Arts in Molecular Biology in 1980 and his PhD in Molecular Biology in 1982.He carried out postdoctoral studies at SUNY Buffalo and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.After completing his postdoctoral position with Dr. Susan Berget at Baylor College of Medicine in Biochemistry in 1986, Smith became an assistant professor at the University of Rochester.