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Dr. Martha Smith-Blackmore is a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School and a veterinarian with a focused interest in the investigation and prosecution of animal cruelty crimes. Her project is entitled Impediments to the Prosecution of Animal Cruelty, focusing on identifying criminal justice issues that hinder the investigation of animal cruelty crimes, or which impede the fair process of such investigations through to prosecutions.

In the past, Martha has been a Stanton Foundation Canine Welfare fellow, researching attitudes and resources of veterinarians and animal control officers related to crimes against canines. This project included observational training at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Massachusetts. She was previously a fellow of Comparative Pathology at Harvard’s New England Regional Primate Research Center and past-chair of the Animal Welfare Committee of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Martha is appointed to the National Institute of Standard and Technology’s Organization of Scientific Area Committees, chairing the Veterinary Forensic Sciences task group of the Crime Scene Investigation and Reconstruction subcommittee. She is also an appointed member of the Crime Scene Investigation Consensus Body for the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Standards Board (ASB).

Martha is an associate member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, appointed to the IACP’s Forensic Science Committee and a member of the National Sheriffs Association appointed to the Animal Cruelty and Abuse committee. She is an associate member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and serves on the executive board of the National Coalition on Violence Against Animals.  She is also a professional consultant affiliate of the National Association of Medical Examiners.

Martha is adjunct faculty at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and a Fellow of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts University where she teaches Veterinary Forensics and Animal Law & Veterinary Medicine. Martha also leads Forensic Veterinary Investigations, LLC based in Boston, Massachusetts.