Cody Smith graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in physiology and developmental biology. He continued his graduate studies at East Carolina University, where he completed a doctorate in physiology.
After he graduate studies, Dr. Smith worked for a short time as a research scientist at ChromaCode. Inc. He joined the faculty in the Department of Biology at BYU-Idaho in 2018. He has published research in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.