Doctor Henry Carroll Smith was born in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, He attended Wake Forrest College in 1919, but transferred to Vanderbilt University in 1920 Doctor Smith graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1925 and completed his internship at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee 1926. During medical school, he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Fraternity. He took his residency in Ophthalmology at the Herman Knapp Memorial Eye Hospital in New York from 1928 to 1930 and postgraduate training in Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, after which he received a Master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Ophthalmology in June 1930. He became a diplomate of the American Board for Ophthalmic Examiners in 1931. Following his education, he returned to Nashville for the practice ofOphthalmology in 1930 until his retirement from private practice in 1974. He was an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine from 1930 to 1945, and a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology in 1945. He became Emeritus Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology upon his retirement in 1974. Doctor Smith was instrumental in establishing a Division of Ophthalmology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and was Head of the Division of Ophthalmology from January 1954 until March 31, 1959. Dr. Smith died October 26, 1986 at the aged of 85 at his home in Nashville, Tennessee.