Dr. Rachel Gottlieb-Smith grew up in Rochester, New York, in a family that deeply valued education. From an early age, she was drawn to both science and teaching, inspired by outstanding role models, including her high school chemistry teacher, Mr. James Shannon. For many years, she imagined becoming either a teacher or a physician. Fortunately for child neurology—and for the many students and residents who have learned from her—she found a way to become both.
Rachel attended Harvard College, where she majored in Biochemical Sciences and graduated summa cum laude. She then earned her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed child neurology residency training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Throughout her training, she developed a deep appreciation for the power of thoughtful mentorship, rigorous clinical training, and precision education—themes that would later define her own career.
After residency, Dr. Gottlieb-Smith joined the faculty at the University of Michigan and completed a Master of Health Professions Education program. She was fortunate to find mentors and role models who supported her passion for education, including Dr. Steven Leber (child neurology), Dr. Douglas Gelb (adult neurology), Dr. Zachary London (adult neurology), Dr. Heather Burrows (pediatrics), and Dr. Margaret Wolff (pediatric emergency medicine). At the University of Michigan, she found an environment that allowed her to combine her love of medicine and teaching, and she has made an extraordinary impact on trainees, colleagues, and patients.
Dr. Gottlieb-Smith became the Child Neurology Residency Program Director in 2021 and Director of Education for the Division of Pediatric Neurology in 2022. In these roles, she has led program growth, curricular innovation, and continuous improvement while mentoring the next generation of child neurologists. As Program Director, she oversees a successful expansion of the University of Michigan Child Neurology Residency Program from two to four residents per year. She leads recruitment, advising, and clinical rotations with the organization of someone who truly loves a well-constructed spreadsheet—but more importantly, with the warmth and perspective of someone who understands what residency asks of people and with a focus on individual career development.
Dr. Gottlieb-Smith’s teaching spans the continuum of learners, from first-year medical students to residents, faculty, and practicing clinicians. She has taught in longitudinal medical student courses, previously directed the pediatric neurology rotation on the neurology clerkship and the pediatric neurology medical student elective, and recently became Assistant Content Lead for the first-year neuroscience course. At the graduate medical education (GME) level, she teaches regularly in resident conferences, clinic, and on consult services, emphasizing evidence-based clinical reasoning, careful neurologic examinations, and the practical wisdom that helps residents grow into thoughtful, confident clinicians.
Her approach to education is rigorous but fully supportive. Dr. Gottlieb-Smith is known for helping trainees think clearly through uncertainty, ask better questions, and build confidence one patient encounter at a time. She challenges residents, advocates for them, and celebrates them. Her leadership style includes maintaining an open-door policy and fostering a culture in which faculty, residents, and staff all feel valued members of the team. She actively seeks input, listens carefully, and ensures that individuals feel heard and supported; her residents commend her for the respect she shows them. Her collaborative approach creates a positive and productive environment that meaningfully enhances the residency program. Dr. Gottlieb-Smith is a strong advocate for well-being and balance during training, not as a slogan but as a lived value.
One of her more creative contributions to the culture of neurology education at Michigan is the adult and child neurology resident-versus-faculty pickleball tournament; the fifth annual tournament took place this past July. It has become a fun, community-building tradition—and a modest threat to faculty hamstrings.
Dr. Gottlieb-Smith’s impact as an educator has been recognized locally and nationally. She received the University of Michigan Status Pedagogicus Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentorship from the adult and child neurology residents in 2020, the American Academy of Neurology A.B. Baker Teacher Recognition Award in 2022, and the University of Michigan Department of Pediatrics Chair’s Award for Clinical Teaching in 2025. She has also been invited to present nationally and internationally on medical education, qualitative research, and high-yield clinical neurology topics, including procedural treatment of headaches. In 2025, she returned to Rochester as the Visiting Professor in Neurologic Education at the University of Rochester—a fitting full-circle moment for someone whose love of teaching began there.
Dr. Gottlieb-Smith’s contributions extend far beyond the University of Michigan. Together with Dr. Danny Rogers at the University of New Mexico, she co-established and co-led the Child Neurology Residency Consortium, a thriving national network of child neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities residency program leaders. The consortium has become an important forum for collaboration, problem-solving, and shared innovation across training programs. The group has tackled practical and timely issues, including preference signaling and the establishment of a universal interview offer date.
Dr. Gottlieb-Smith is also an accomplished medical education scholar. Her interest in qualitative research was shaped by Dr. Dorene Balmer at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and in 2018, she was awarded the American Academy of Neurology Medical Education Research Training Fellowship. Through that fellowship, she designed and led a longitudinal qualitative study exploring how medical students think about career decisions in neurology.
More recently, Dr. Gottlieb-Smith has played a leading role in national conversations about the future of child neurology training. With Dr. Danny Rogers and Dr. Donald Gilbert, she used a modified Delphi process to develop consensus regarding core elements of child neurology training among a national panel of child neurologists. Concurrently, this team, along with other child neurology program directors, published a program director’s consensus training pathway. These efforts have helped inform national discussions as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) updates child neurology residency training requirements. Dr. Gottlieb-Smith now serves on the ACGME Writing Group for the Shaping GME Initiative for Child Neurology.
Her current scholarship focuses on using clinical informatics to better understand the breadth and variability of residents’ clinical experiences, with the goal of advancing precision medical education in child neurology. She completed the RISE Innovation Development Program in 2024 to pilot this work and subsequently received the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Faculty Innovation in Education Award for 2025–2026 to expand the project to four additional institutions. In addition to her own scholarship, she has contributed to the field through editorial service, including seven years as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Graduate Medical Education and current editorial board roles with BMC Medical Education and Neurology: Education.
Dr. Gottlieb-Smith’s service reflects the same commitment to collaboration and thoughtful improvement that characterizes her teaching. At the University of Michigan, she chairs the GME Best Practice Task Force and serves as an elected member of the GME Committee. Nationally, she serves on the Child Neurology Society Educators Committee and is an elected member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Neurology Executive Committee.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Gottlieb-Smith is supported by her husband, Eric Smith, Director of Technology Services at iWorks Corporation. She and Eric have two wonderful children, ages 11 and 8, both of whom were born during Dr. Gottlieb-Smith’s residency. That experience has given Dr. Gottlieb-Smith an especially personal understanding of the challenges of balancing family and professional life during training, and it continues to inform her advocacy for resident well-being and flexible training environments. Their children are avid tennis players, which has inspired Dr. Gottlieb-Smith to get back on the court herself—partly for fitness, partly for family time, and mostly to stay competitive with them for as long as possible.
Dr. Rachel Gottlieb-Smith embodies the very best of child neurology education: intellectual rigor, generosity of spirit, national vision, and deep commitment to trainees and patients. She has strengthened child neurology residency training at the University of Michigan, helped shape national conversations about the future of the field, and modeled a career in which excellence, mentorship, scholarship, family, and joy can all belong in the same story.