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05/22/2008

Stephen Smiley, M.D.

Stephen Smiley M.D.Dr. Steve Smiley is Medical Director of the Bronson Battle Creek Cancer Care Center Medical Oncology department. He is also Medical Director of Lifespan Good Samaritan Hospice. He previously practiced in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but was recruited to Battle Creek thirty years ago to develop the cancer care program. He continues to do research with the Grand Rapids Community Oncology Program. He is on the CCOP executive board and is a member of its Cancer Advisory Committee.

Steve is a past-president of the Calhoun County Medical Society and represents MSHO at the House of delegates of Michigan State Medical Society. He is chairman of Continuing Medical Education and co-chair of Professional Education at Bronson Battle Creek. He also serves as co-chair of Bronson Battle Creek Strategic Quality Committee. He is a board member of Integrated Health Partners-the PHO for Calhoun County. He is certified by the American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Practice Initiative (QOPI) and was recognized by the Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium for symptom management quality initiatives in 2012 and smoking cessation in 2013.

Dr. Smiley thoroughly enjoys his practice of medical oncology and its challenges. He also loves to ski in the winter, both in Michigan and on yearly trips out west. He went to Big Sky, Montana last winter and is planning a trip with friends to Park City, Utah.

His Lake Michigan cottage, near Grand Haven, has been in the family for over 80 years. A tear down and rebuild was completed nine years ago after much bickering with the DEQ and township government. It is now enjoyed for swimming, kayaking and jet skiing in the summer and long walks on the beach year round. Steve loves sharing his lake home with family and friends, especially his wife of 41 years, Ruth, and their children and grandchildren; Ben, who turned seven in January, Zach, who is 5 and Caroline, who is 3. They live in Downers Grove, Illinois with daughter, Susan, and son-in-law, Simon. Susan is an attorney in downtown Chicago. Their family is building a new home, which will include a grand-parents suite on the third floor. Steve and Ruth’s son, Rob, has a Masters Degree in Special Education. He lives in Kalamazoo and teaches eighth grade special ed. in Battle Creek.

Dr. Smiley is a descendent of the Upjohn Family (fifth generation) on his father’s side. His great-grandfather, James Upjohn, was a founding brother of the Upjohn Company. He is the third generation to attend The University of Michigan, on his mother’s side. His grandfather, Henry Lightner, played football for Fielding Yost and was the first letter winner in football from Grand Rapids, just over 100 years ago, on the 1913 team. Steve enjoys sharing season tickets to the Big House with his daughter, a 1998 grad.

Steve Smiley enjoys music, especially classic rock. Within the last year, he and Ruth attended the Fleetwood Mac concert at Chicago’s United Center and enjoyed a great time in July at Comerica Park with Jimmy Buffett and Jackson Browne. He can be “heard” really enjoying Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young on the deck of the cottage on most summer mornings. Steve also loves to travel.  During the past year, he spent a week in New Orleans at his timeshare condo and recently returned from the Riviera Maya, south of Cancun, Mexico. He looks forward to more travel in the future.

Dr. Smiley states “the practice of medicine and medical oncology has been very fulfilling and a true joy. Helping patients, as they battle cancer, is challenging, but knowing what achievable goals can be set, and doing everything possible to achieve those goals with the patients, has given me much satisfaction.”

 

 

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