William C. Cushman, MD
Professor of Preventive Medicine and Medicine
University of Tennessee,
  Health Science Center, College of Medicine
Chief of Preventive Medicine Section
VA Medical Center
Memphis, Tennessee

William C. Cushman, MD, is Professor of Preventive Medicine and Medicine at the University of Tennessee, Health Science Center, College of Medicine and Chief of the Preventive Medicine Section at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, both in Memphis.

Dr Cushman graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson where he was selected in his third year to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society.  He completed his residency training at the University of Mississippi and served on the faculty from 1977-1988, when he moved to the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

Dr Cushman has been an investigator in many clinical studies relating to hypertension and lipid therapy.  He has been the chairman for 2 VA cooperative studies: 1) PATHS (Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension Study), a multicenter clinical trial examining the effects of reducing alcohol intake on blood pressure in heavy drinkers, and 2) the VA participation in the Antihypertensive and Lipid Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT), a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) study comparing cardiovascular events from 4 major classes of antihypertensive agents in over 42,000 patients. He is also Principal Investigator for the VA Clinical Center Network and Chair of the Blood Pressure Working Group of the NHLBI-sponsored Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial (2000-2008).

Dr Cushman’s research interests are primarily in drug treatment and lifestyle changes in the prevention and management of hypertension and lipid abnormalities, prevention of cardiovascular outcomes, and cardiovascular disease epidemiology. Types of trials include morbidity and mortality outcomes, efficacy, compliance, predictors of response, hypertension in special populations (eg, elderly, blacks, and diabetics), and intermediate end points (eg, left ventricular hypertrophy and atherosclerosis progression/regression). Areas of research in lifestyle changes (nondrug therapy) include exercise, alcohol intake, sodium intake, potassium intake, and weight loss.
           
He is the Hypertension Consultant and Chairman of the Hypertension Field Advisory Committee to Medical Service in the Central Office of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a member of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program Coordinating Committee of NHLBI, and was on the Executive Committee for the Seventh (2003) Joint National Committee Report on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of Hypertension.