William R. Hiatt, MD

On behalf of the CPC family, we are deeply saddened to announce the news that Dr. William R. Hiatt passed away peacefully on December 8, 2020 at home surrounded by his family. Dr. Hiatt embodied our mission, vision and values and dedicated his life to improving the care of patients. His death represents a profound loss of one of the pillars of the field of clinical Vascular Medicine and cardiovascular research as well as a dedicated mentor to so many of us.

For inquiries related to his memorial or address for correspondence, please contact info@cpcmed.org. More information will be forthcoming with regard to initiatives to celebrate Will’s legacy.

We honor his legacy by living by the code he lived by, the Code of the West:

Code of the West

Originally written by James P. Owen in Cowboy Ethics, 2005

Live each day with courage

Take pride in your work

Always finish what you start

Do what has to be done

Be tough, but fair

When you make a promise, keep it

Ride for the brand

Talk less and say more

Remember that some things aren’t for sale

Know where to draw the line

About Dr. Hiatt

William R. Hiatt was born in 1950 in Colorado to William H. Hiatt, DDS and Luana R. Hiatt. His father was a dentist, scientist and founder of the University of Colorado Dental School and an avid athlete and climber. He was a hero and role model for Will, and Will embraced his father’s core values of helping others through science and medical care, which ultimately guided his career. He also shared his father’s spirit of adventure and became an avid and accomplished athlete and outdoorsman. He climbed all 54 “Fourteeners” (mountains over 14,000 feet) in Colorado at least once. Will was a family man and found his greatest joy in spending time with his family. He is survived by his wife Susan, daughter Kelsey and grandchildren Sydney, Maelle, and Sloan.

Professional Accomplishments

Will attended and graduated Cum Laude from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at University Hospital in Boston (now Boston Medical Center) and completed his fellowship in Vascular Medicine at the University of Colorado. He rose to the rank of Professor of Medicine with tenure at University of Colorado where he held the Novartis Foundation Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research.

Will dedicated his career to the care of patients with vascular disease, particularly peripheral artery disease. He was a Past President of the Society of Vascular Medicine, a professional organization devoted to the care of patients with vascular disease. In addition, he served as Chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease. He was also a co-editor for the Inter-Society Consensus for the Management of Peripheral Arterial Disease (TASC) guidelines and worked tirelessly to establish multidisciplinary recommendations for the care of patients with vascular disease. During his career he received numerous awards and recognitions for his work. These included the designation as a Master of the Society for Vascular Medicine and the Distinguished Scientist and Clinical Research Scientist Awards from the American Heart Association.

He realized that he could have the greatest impact on patient outcomes by not only caring for individuals in the clinic but also through leading cardiovascular research and contributing to regulatory work regarding cardiovascular and endocrine drugs. He served as a member on several FDA Advisory Committees and the Chair of the US Food and Drug Administration Cardiovascular and Renal Division Advisory Committee. He was recognized for this service with the FDA Advisory Committee Service Award, Food and Drug Administration (2008).

His impact was global, but his heart was always at the University of Colorado. He provided distinguished leadership at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, including serving as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the General Clinical Research Center, as the Chair of the Clinical and Translational Research Advisory Committee, and on the Board of the Gates Biomanufacturing facility. In honor of his service, the flag flew at half-mast at the historic Fitzsimons Building of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (https://bit.ly/3oKf58Q) on the day after Will’s passing.

He published over 280 manuscripts, including landmark publications evaluating optimal therapies in peripheral artery disease and authored over 60 book chapters. He served as a teacher and mentor for numerous physician scientists and provided care to countless patients with complex cardiovascular disease.

Realizing his Vision at the Colorado Prevention Center – CPC

Will joined CPC in 1996 shortly after it was founded by Dr. Bob Schrier in 1989. It was created as a non-profit academic research organization to enable research in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and to improve the provision of community health in Colorado. It was born from an initial experiment called the ABCD Trial (Estacio et al. NEJM 1998) which sought to understand the role of optimal blood pressure control in improving outcomes in patients with diabetes.

Will became President of CPC and served in that role for over two decades. He brought his expertise in peripheral artery disease, a severe manifestation of atherosclerosis associated with functional decline, and aligned it with CPC’s mission to improve outcomes for patients. He dedicated extensive effort to physiologic studies and became a master of measuring functional outcomes. His work transformed the use of functional outcomes in studies, particularly methods to reduce variability, later codified as the CPC EQuIP® program. His mission to improve outcomes in peripheral artery disease spanned early and late phase trials, small and big studies, population studies, and registration pathway trials. His work led to the collaborative leadership of the EUCLID trial (Hiatt et al. NEJM 2017) with the Duke Clinical Research Institute, the largest dedicated PAD medical therapy trial. One of his greatest achievements was the leadership and execution of VOYAGER PAD (Bonaca et al. NEJM 2020) as a novel outcomes trial in peripheral artery disease. This trial sought to describe the unique risk profile of the peripheral artery disease patient requiring lower extremity revascularization and the role of more potent antithrombotic therapies in reducing the risk of both adverse limb and cardiovascular events early and late after intervention. His legacy of dedication to the care of patients with peripheral artery disease has helped to transform research in this area and holds promise to improve outcomes in this high-risk population.

Will, Values and CPC Culture

Will was not just a remarkable physician and scientist. He was a remarkable human being. He had vision and held his values close in every interaction. His unique character meant that he was uncommonly grounded, humble, and generous. He was loved by his co-workers and peers as his sincerity and generosity shone through in areas where competition and ambition are generally drivers of success. He was loved by his “CPC family” for leadership that was consistent and driven by core values. Will would say things like, “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” Will had integrity… and it all mattered. But as always, he said it best in his own words. The last thing he wrote on his white board is below…