EAH Board Member, Pediatrician Smalley Honored for Decades of Serving Community

AUBURN, Ala.­—After hearing Auburn Mayor Ron Anders call his name as a recipient of a Lamplighter Award during the annual State of the City address, Dr. David Smalley realized he had been duped.

His wife, Debbie, and daughter, Sarah Nunnelly (chief operating officer at East Alabama Health), had led him to believe he was attending to watch Sarah receive an award. Instead, Smalley was recognized for his decades of service and contribution to the community as a pediatrician.

“It was a complete surprise,” Smalley said about receiving one of Mayor Anders’ six Lamplighter Awards. “I thought we were there to watch Sarah receive something, so I had no clue. It was an honor to receive it, but there are so many other people more deserving than I am.”

Over his nearly 40-year career as a pediatrician, Smalley provided care and made an impact in the lives of countless children throughout Lee and surrounding counties and helped expand East Alabama Health’s (EAH) offerings to meet the needs of a continuously growing community.

His journey in medicine began after he graduated from Auburn University with a degree in accounting. After a year of crunching numbers, Smalley wanted a career change. He returned to Auburn and completed six quarters of pre-med studies before enrolling in medical school at UAB.

When it was time to choose a medical specialty, he thought back to his experiences as a child in his north Alabama hometown of Arab, and of an influential pediatrician he would occasionally visit.

“We had two general practitioners in Arab, and that’s where mama would take us,” he said. “But, if we got sick, or if she was really worried about us, there was a pediatrician in Decatur, Dr. Kermit Pitt, that she would take us to.

“I always liked Dr. Pitt, so when I started considering medicine, I was thinking about pediatrics.”

Following medical school, he began a pediatrics residency at Duke University, where he gained insightful clinical experience and learned alongside world-renowned physicians. He would eventually bring home the knowledge he acquired with the assistance of the residency staff. 

“I was able to be associated with some really good pediatricians early in my training,” Smalley said. “My program director at Duke, Dr. Samuel Katz, was world-famous, and I didn’t know that when I first met him. He was actually on the team which cultured the measles virus that enabled the development of the measles vaccine.

“He was very helpful in me getting an opportunity to come back home to practice by contacting folks down here.”

When Smalley and family returned to the Auburn-Opelika area in 1985, he began practicing with Drs. Don Curry, David Druhan and Eron Ingle at the Pediatric Clinic. Curry, Druhan and Ingle served as mentors in the early stages of Smalley’s career. He also noted the importance of having a local hospital like EAMC dedicated to serving the needs of the local community.

“They mentored me and kind of took me in,” he said. “It was a highlight in my career to be able to join a medical community of doctors that were well trained and dedicated, and to be on staff in a hospital that took ministering to the community as the real goal.

“The hospital let us have a pediatric floor with pediatric nurses, and that was one of the reasons why I chose to come here to practice instead of maybe going back to my hometown, because my hometown hospital did not have a dedicated pediatrics floor.”

Smalley would become a staple of the community throughout his career, helping provide care for children when they need care the most. He notes that a special honor of his has been the occasions during his career when he became the provider for his former patients’ children.

“To be able to be in the same community and to develop friendships, see patients, watch them grow and then get to see their achievements has been very rewarding,” he said. “On occasion, I had the honor to see some of my patients’ children, not all the time, but I had the honor to be able to do that, and it was always fun to see them again.”

Along with helping generations of area children grow and be healthy, Smalley has also played a major role in the growth of EAH as a member of the organization’s board of directors since 2006. 

During his time on the board, the health system has started its robotics program, won numerous quality awards, affiliated with Lanier Memorial Hospital, revamped the hospital’s obstetrics and pediatrics units, opened the Spencer Cancer Center and opened a Level III NICU. Smalley also highlighted the need to meet the needs of the growing community.

“I’ve been very proud of participating on the board,” Smalley said. “Our hospital has always valued its employees and its mission. I’ve been very proud that the hospital provides neonatology services now, which is something I had hoped we would see.

“We’re going to be expanding more as the community continues to grow, and we’re really excited about the psychiatric hospital as that’s such a need not just in our community, but in our state and our surrounding states.”

While he’s been retired a little over three years, Smalley continues to stay active. He enjoys walking and biking with his wife as well as traveling with his children and grandchildren.