Virginia Smith joined Indiana University in 2008, initially pursuing a MS degree and later transitioned to the PhD program in 2011. Under Dr. Bogdan Dragnea, she developed a single-molecule method to track viral RNA transitions. Throughout her graduate career, she received various academic and leadership awards, including the NSF Integrative Graduate Education & Research Traineeship and the IU Building Bridges Leadership Award. After completing her PhD, Virginia joined the University of Central Florida as a postdoctoral researcher, contributing to human-on-a-chip technology by co-developing a human neuromuscular model system to study and treat myotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Subsequently, she became a scientist at Hesperos, Inc. in 2020, leading a team in developing human model systems to treat neuromuscular disorders, including ALS and myasthenia gravis (MG). In 2022, she accepted a Senior Scientist position at Expansion Therapeutics, where she currently serves as the Myotonic Dystrophy (DM1) Program Lead in Jupiter, Florida.