William Cooper

February 13, 2026

30 years of changing health care culture: How Vanderbilt Health’s CPPA pioneered professional accountability 

Three decades later, CPPA is a cornerstone of health care culture transformation, around the U.S. and the world reaching hundreds of thousands of clinicians.

By Holly Fletcher
William Cooper, MD, MPH
September 9, 2025

William Cooper named Senior Vice President for Professionalism and Clinical Excellence 

He will be responsible for promoting and ensuring the highest standards of professionalism and performance among faculty, clinical staff, trainees and students throughout the health system.

By Holly Fletcher
William Cooper, MD, MPH, delivers the State of the Department of Pediatrics address. (photo by Susan Urmy)
September 18, 2024

Address highlights Department of Pediatrics’ achievements, research and health leadership

During the address, Cooper focused on Accelerate 2025’s core areas, which include: serving our children, promoting children’s health through discovery and career pathways; ensuring financial fairness; and training the next generation.

By Christina Echegaray
June 18, 2024

Study tallies reports of unprofessional behavior among physicians

Reports from 193 hospitals were analyzed. It turns out that surgeons draw the most complaints.

By Paul Govern
May 16, 2024

Clinician accountability program from VUMC associated with large savings

A program run by Vanderbilt University Medical Center that provides peer feedback to high-risk clinicians was associated with a significant decrease in malpractice claims costs at a large orthopaedic surgery practice, according to a recent study.

By Paul Govern
December 7, 2023

William Cooper named interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics

William Cooper, MD, MPH, has been named Interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics. He will assume this role Feb. 1, 2024.  

By John Howser
April 13, 2023

Low-professionalism residents later draw higher patient complaints: study

A Vanderbilt study finds a strong association between lower ratings for interpersonal communication skills among medical residents in their last year of training and greater likelihood of unsolicited patient complaints among doctors during their first year of employment after training.
By Paul Govern
April 9, 2020

VUMC study named as JAMA Surgery’s top paper

The world’s No.1 ranked surgery journal, JAMA Surgery, has announced that a June 2019 study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was the journal’s top paper of the year as measured by Altmetric Attention Score.
By Paul Govern