Welcome to the Website of Regenerative & Pain Medicine Center. Across our pages you will learn all you likely need to know to about our practice, our cutting-edge modalities, our strong credentials, and the sincere way that we care for our patients. Please reach out to us if you have any questions!
It is my pleasure to share a little bit about myself, beginning with my educational background. I have a strong science background and a Ph.D. in Public Policy, with
an emphasis on Technology-Environment-Society. I have also earned my MA in Geography and Planning. Meanwhile, my first degree was a BA in History, which also included a
teaching certificate. I grew-up in a teaching family, seeing that profession from a unique perspective, and worked my way through school by doing carpentry and home remodeling projects.
Download CV for William James Smith
I have spent a lifetime in the service of my communities. My professional life began in my 20s, first as a teacher and coach. I then spent time as an international human rights lobbyist on Capitol Hill, where I engaged the policy making process. I successfully raised funds, ran influential campaigns, and worked with people across the party spectrum in the House, Senate, and White House, and also in the NGO community in order to accomplish positive things. Beginning in my 30s, having earned my Ph.D., I became a professor focusing on environmental studies and science at major universities such as the University of Iowa and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I provided leadership and garnered resources for my own research projects trying to help people improve access to safe drinking water, perform community watershed and land use planning, implement participatory approaches to community biodiversity conservation, and study climate change perception and policy in our region. My work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, USGS, other US agencies, the EU, and international foundations for approximately $3,000,000. Outputs of my work regarding community environmental planning and studies of hazards were often educational outreach to help communities become more sustainable. And, of course, I am proud to say that RPMC is here for the community and to help it address its chronic pain and regenerative medicine needs.
I have served the Etiwanda School District and Chaffey Joint Union High School District through serving on the Local Control Accountability Plan Advisory Committee (LCAP), School Site Councils, giving many talks on Career Days, and by dedicating hundreds of hours of volunteering time teaching K-12 at all levels. I also have put about a decade into volunteer coaching kids in flag football, basketball, and more. My two sons are currently in the two aforementioned school districts, so I appreciate the needs of families trying to navigate through these difficult times and keep things ‘normal’ socially and in terms of education, because my family is going through these experiences as well. In fact, I am presently volunteering to POD teach. Having a school-age family in Rancho Cucamonga myself is one of the reasons that I feel that I can represent the needs of families well in public office
Political life has too often become toxic and polarized, so that the shades of grey are excluded in exchange for considering only extreme and opposite points of view… and this does not serve communities well.
In addition, policy makers who focus on personal attacks serve as a poor example to the next generation. I do not believe in demonizing persons with a different political view than I have regarding a particular
topic, theme or person – we need to be able to work past our differences to put our energy into accomplishing common goals. My experience has been that citizens win when they are able to get multiple parties to
compete with each other to do the best job regarding what is important to them. Part of the problem with politics and policy making in the U.S. is the need for more viable parties to better represent the great
variety of political stances that exist. Another is the cost of entry into politics. Did you know that a person running for City Council could spend 1/3 of their annual City Council salary just running for the office?
This is a real barrier to the young and less-wealthy to participate.
Some persons reading this page may wonder what kind of things we can focus on together that cross party lines? Below are some specific examples. And, I would highlight that I promise to do what I can to make citizens safer,
especially kids and families. I will also do what I can to have the city and school systems help each other grow and be part of one strong mutually supportive community. Part of that process is that we should ensure that we invite
community involvement in planning, code and school issues at an early enough stage that other people’s opinions actually can matter, and are not considered after the core decisions are already made! The easier we make community participation,
the more diverse types of points of view can be considered.
Those of us that have lived in the area long enough sadly remember the loss of lives at our schools, and across the City, due to reckless driving and inadequate protective measures. However, as time passes, we tend to forget these hazards and tragedies. I believe that we need to make it safer for kids to cross roads to get to school, and also safer for citizens to cross streets to exercise and visit our parks. There is so much technology available to us to reduce these hazards, some of which is relatively cheap and / or simple, like glow-in-the-dark paint, flashing crosswalks, more crossing guards, and speed bumps near schools and in drag racing areas where people have been killed. Even late at night, as I jog near our home, I find myself amazed at how many groups target the area for motorbike or car drag racing, needlessly endangering our loved ones. We should also work with the emergency worker and medical communities to provide sufficient free training / workshops regarding emergency medical scenarios and how to respond to them, including at schools – where there is very limited medical assistance. We also need to maintain a mutually respectful and supportive relationship with those who provide fire and police services.
Some of the bushes near Los Osos High School are still burned many years after the great fire that forced evacuation of Northern Rancho Cucamonga. And there is an enormous store of fuel/brush at our very doorsteps in the northern areas. What would our community do if, due to fire in the more mountainous regions of Rancho Cucamonga, we lost an entire school during the school year, or several neighborhoods, or even the lives of citizens or our fire fighters? Of course, we are undeniably still growing, but where should we grow? I believe that we should encourage redevelopment of existing areas or encourage new development of empty parcels away from high wind and fire zones that put lives in danger and are expensive to maintain. Certain water conservation practices can also reduce the potential of damage by fire, and thus, are a double win for citizens. There are similarities here to community planning, insurance, and taxing around floods and flood zones.
Supporting addiction and mental health intervention seems important to reducing the numbers of homeless. As does affordable simple housing that is not clustered together (for those that can handle that responsibility). Once you are homeless it is very difficult to work your way out of it given the expense of living in S. CA and other factors. Programs to help people find work will not solve the problem regarding how expensive our region is to live in, but they can make a contribution towards solving that problem and also offer a step towards greater self-esteem. Nevertheless, given the trends of drug use, haphazard needle disposal on the ground and mental illness within this community, it is essential that no homeless encampments are set-up near schools or in our parks (which has happened).
We can make our community more competitive by helping our kids to learn more than one language while they are still young and there is not too much pressure. I am not lobbying for a particular language to be taught here, because there are many worth learning for various reasons too long to explain here (i.e. spoken around the globe, future business opportunities, etc.). Being multilingual is absolutely an advantage in the global economy, and can open up opportunities for our local economy as well if we reach a critical mass of people who can speak other languages. Waiting till high school or college to learn a foreign language is not efficient. Volunteers could boost our capacity with regards to offering language programs in cost-efficient ways.
In addition, our community can be more resilient and competitive by making it less expensive to operate businesses here, and even giving a tax break this next year or two. Part of this picture is to not overcharge small businesses for services where the City does not add significant value.
We can team-up with the schools to organize volunteers to take the place of spending funds where appropriate. Students need volunteer opportunities to improve their chances of getting into good universities. They then take what they learn at those universities and can bring those good ideas back home to the Rancho Cucamonga small business community and its schools to boost our economy.Education, sustainability, peace and affordability will leave a beautiful Rancho Cucamonga for the next generations.