Dr Kortnye Smith completed her medical degree at the University of Adelaide in 2007 and undertook physician training in both South Australia and Victoria, obtaining a Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) in Medical Oncology. She subsequently completed a sub-specialty fellowship in genomic sequencing at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

She is a Medical Oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Eastern Hospital.  She has submitted her PhD through the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on the use of genomic sequencing and its role in the diagnosis and management of cancer, with a particular interest in improving understanding of, and access to testing and targeted therapies outside of quaternary cancer centres.