12 Jun Meet Monell: Benjamin P.C. Smith on Leadership and Why Our Senses Matter

For Benjamin P.C. Smith, PhD, leading the Monell Chemical Senses Center  is more than a professional milestone. It’s a return to a place that helped shape both his scientific career and his personal life.

“My path to Monell actually began here,” Smith says.

As a postdoctoral researcher at Monell in 2002, he studied how immune system genetics shape chemical attraction.

“In a genuinely ironic twist, Monell also gave me something more personal than a research finding — I met my wife here.”

More than two decades later, after working across academia, government, and industry, Smith returned to Monell as Executive Director and President – an  opportunity he describes as a homecoming with a purpose.

What sets Monell apart from other scientific organizations is not only the research itself, but how that research is approached.

“Most research institutions are organized around disciplines,” Smith explains. “Monell is organized around a question: how do our senses shape health?”

That question brings together neuroscientists, molecular biologists, chemists, behavioral scientists, clinicians, and environmental researchers under one roof. Rather than working within individual departments, researchers collaborate across specialties to better understand how sensory systems influence health and behavior.

Most people think of smell and taste in terms of food and fragrance. But at Monell, these senses open the door to much larger questions, Smith says.

Researchers study whether loss of smell can serve as an early indicator of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Others investigate how sensory cells in the gut influence metabolism and immunity, or how environmental pollutants disrupt chemical communication in animals and ecosystems.

At the center of this work is a “One Health” approach: the understanding that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected.

“These aren’t separate questions,” Smith says. “They’re one question, asked at different scales.”

The importance of this research became particularly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of people suddenly lost their sense of smell and taste. For many, it was the first time realizing these senses are essential to health and daily life.

“The reason someone outside science should care about Monell’s research is that this science is about everyday life,” Smith explains.

Smell influences memory and emotion. Taste shapes dietary choices and long-term health outcomes. Internal sensory systems help regulate hunger, fullness, and even mood. Together, these sensory systems influence decisions people make every day, often without even realizing it.

By studying the underlying mechanisms behind these experiences, Monell researchers are uncovering insights that could improve nutrition, overall wellbeing, and support disease detection.

Advances in artificial intelligence, systems biology, and precision medicine are creating opportunities to study sensory systems at a remarkable scale and level of detail, he continues. Researchers can now investigate how these systems function across species, diseases, and stages of life in ways that weren’t previously possible.

“The next decade is going to be extraordinary,” Smith says.

At the same time, he emphasizes that groundbreaking discoveries require something increasingly rare: the freedom to pursue difficult questions without immediate answers.

“Science that changes the world rarely looks like a sure bet at the start,” he says. “At Monell, we give scientists the time, resources, and collaborative environment to follow genuinely important questions—even when the path isn’t clear.”

For Smith, Monell’s impact extends beyond scientific discoveries. It is also a place where young researchers develop their own scientific voices, where collaboration is part of the culture, and where curiosity drives innovation.

His hope is that future generations of scientists leave Monell understanding that the senses are not a niche area of study, but a fundamental part of human and environmental health.

If there is one message he hopes people take away from Monell’s work, it is simple:

“Our senses are not luxuries—they are lifelines.”

They help us navigate the world, protect us from danger, and shape how we experience daily life. Understanding them more deeply is one of the most important challenges in science today.

And for close to 60 years, Monell has led at the forefront of that mission.