James Smith Jr., M.D., chief of perinatal medicine at New York Medical College/Westchester Medical Center, has been name chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN), effective Feb. 1, 2011.

He will also serve as a maternal/fetal medicine specialist with Creighton Medical Associates and as a professor of OB/GYN with Creighton University School of Medicine.

Smith has practiced in Virginia, Colorado, California and New York. A professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at New York Medical College/Westchester Medical Center, Smith’s previous academic activities have included serving as director of the OB/GYN residency program at Exempla St. Joseph Hospital in Denver and on the faculty of Stanford University in California as a clinical associate professor of maternal/fetal medicine.

He is board certified in OB/GYN and is an examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Smith earned his medical degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri. Between1985-89, he completed his internship and residency in OB/GYN at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia. He also completed a fellowship in maternal/fetal medicine at University of New Mexico.