Gigi Smith, MSN
Gigi Smith is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing and Department of Pediatrics at MUSC and a nurse practitioner in the Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic. She received her Bachelor of Science Nursing degree from Hartwick College, her Master of Science in Nursing degree in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing from Columbia University, and her post-master's certificate as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner from MUSC. Ms. Smith received the 2005 Award for Teaching in the Master's Program at the College of Nursing, 2005 South Carolina Nurses' Association Excellence in Nursing Practice Award, 2005 Nurse Health Care Hero Award from the Charleston Regional Business Association, and the 2006 South Carolina Palmetto Gold Nurse Award. She also received the 2007 American Epilepsy Society's Nurses Travel Award.
Ms. Smith specializes in the care of children with epilepsy. She is currently co-investigator or co-principal investigator on three research projects through the Department of Biostastics, Bioinformatics and Epidemiology and Department of Pediatrics. The South Carolina Health Outcomes Project in Epilepsy is investigating care outcomes for patients with epilepsy and their families. The Childrens' Observations and Perceptions of Epilepsy, funded by the Epilepsy Foundation Targeted Initiative in Mood Disorders, has examined how much depression, anxiety and other behavioral issues occur in children with epilepsy. The Coping with Epilepsy: A Program for Youth funded by Parents Against Childhood Epilepsy is an intervention project to increase the ability for school-age children to be successful in managing their epilepsy, along with their parents. She previously was co-investigator in the South Carolina Epidemiological Study of Epilepsy and Seizure Disorders which investigated how much epilepsy exists in South Carolina.