Professor Kimothy L. Smith

Kimothy L. Smith, DMV, Ph.D., earned his Ph.D. in 1999 at Louisiana State University where he was curator of the Worldwide Bacillus anthracis collection. Kimothy earned his BSc in Biochemistry in 1981 and his DMV in 1985 from Oklahoma State University. He has been a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association since September 1981.

In 2012, he cofounded McCarthy and Smith Consulting, LLC, a women-owned small business firm providing scientific and technical consulting to government, commercial, and non-profit organizations. He is the Chief Operations Officer and Senior Consultant and provides professional consulting services in the areas of biosurveillance, bioforensics, biodefense, biosecurity, molecular genetics and diagnostics, and food safety, defense, and security. In 2013, he founded Biodefense News which tracks biodefense news, happenings, policy and practice.

Kimothy was named EVP and Chief Science Officer for ExcitePCR Corporation in 2017. His area of responsibility is to manage the development of Firefly Dx to completion and commercialization and execute the company’s mission under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) SenseNet program to provide faster, less expensive bio-threat detection systems while providing an added level of security. Firefly Dx is designed to be a handheld, fully automated, lab quality, real-time device able to process samples and detect pathogens at the point of need or point of care, faster and less expensively than existing devices, without the need to return the sample to a lab for a confirmatory result. Firefly Dx’s applications include lab-quality, sample processing, and detection of pathogenic organisms; agricultural and food screening in both domestic sectors and developing countries; and detection of biological agents associated with weapons of mass destruction.

Kimothy was Owner and Practitioner of KLS Veterinary Services from 1987 to 1993. He was the Deputy Division Leader for Operations, Counterterrorism, and Incident Response Division, NAI at Lawrence Livermore National Library from 2003 to 2005.

He worked for the US Department of Homeland Security until 2008 in the following capacities, Chief of Research Programs and Countermeasures Office, Science and Technology Directorate, Director of the National Biosurveillance Integration Center, Chief Veterinarian, and Senior Advisor for International Biodefense.

He was Chief Technical Advisor for the PositiveID Corporation, Vice President for the International Security & Biopolicy Institute, and Senior Advisor Biodefense & Emergency Response for the Readiness Resource Group.

He was Professor of Microbiology and Professor of Epidemiology at University Nevada Reno, Medical School and Research Professor in Advanced Analytics at Desert Research Institute.

Kimothy has authored and coauthored many publications including Global Genetic Population Structure of Bacillus anthracis, Tandem repeat regions within the Burkholderia pseudomallei genome and their application for high resolution genotyping, and Epidemiology of Anthrax in the Kruger National Park, South Africa: Genetic Diversity and Environment. Read the full list of Kimothy’s publications.

He is an accomplished Speaker and Presenter. Receiving many honors throughout his career. Read more about his extensive background.

He has been funded for multiple research projects:

• Biological Agents of Concern: Isolate, Strains, and Genetic Sequence Data Acquisition; Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center, Department of Defense. 2009–2010. $750K.
• Rapid Diagnostic Development for Agricultural Pathogens; Department of Homeland Security and United States Department of Agriculture; Co-Principle Investigator .2003-2005. $2.0 million
• Bioforensic Microbial Strain Archives; Department of Homeland Security; Principle investigator. 2003–2005. $1.0 million
• Microbial Background Characterization; Department of Homeland Security; Principle Investigator. 2003–2004. $0.4 million
• High Throughput Viability Detection for Biological Agents; DARPA; Principle investigator. 2003–2004. $1.4 million
• Viral Sequencing for Signature Discovery and Phylogenetic Understanding; Department of Homeland Security. 2002–2005. $2.0 million
• High Throughput Viability Detection for Biological Agents; DARPA; Principle investigator. 2002–2003. $1.5 million

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