Sam W. Cullison, MD

Sam Cullison, MD, received his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1975. His Family Medicine residency was completed at the University of Washington School of Medicine Hospital in Seattle in 1978. He began private practice in Monroe Washington., a rural community in the Cascade mountain foothills where he practiced full spectrum Family Medicine in a 22 bed community hospital for more than 16 years. During that time, he became a clinical associate professor of Family Medicine with the UWSOM and taught residents in his practice.

In 1994, Dr. Cullison left private practice to become director of the Providence Family Medicine residency in Seattle, a 30 resident program with a core site (6-6-6) and two community health center satellites (2-2-2 each). Dr. Cullison was in the first graduating class of the NIPDD in 1995, which he feels was an essential ingredient to his continued satisfaction in his role as a Program Director in Family Medicine Residency training. Dr. Cullison joined Swedish Health Systems in 2000 with the acquisition of the Providence program that year, and continues with the residency, serves as director of Family Medicine education for Swedish’s two Family Medicine residencies, and works with the UWSOM as a clinical professor of Family Medicine.

Dr. Cullison is board certified in Family Medicine, earned a CAQ in Geriatrics and is certified in addiction medicine by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Since 1978, he has been director of the largest methadone treatment center in Washington State, and has served as medical director for two successive inpatient substance-use treatment centers during his career. He has lectured and published extensively over his career in the areas of addiction medicine, chronic pain & geriatric topics, regionally and nationally. He currently serves as board chair for the Washington Physicians Health Program, which provides supervision and care to doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and PA’s with addictive disease.

Dr Cullison is a past president of the Washington Academy of Family Medicine (1987), past chair of the Graduate Medical Education Advisory Committee for the AMA in 1999, past president of the Washington State Medical Association (2001), and has served on the RRC in Family Medicine on two occasions. He was the first resident to ever serve on any RRC in medicine from 1977-1979, and then was appointed to the RRC-FM again in 2001, where he served until June 2007 concluding this assignment as vice-chair.  Dr Cullison has recently joined the Residency Program Solutions (RPS) Consultant Panel in 2008 and is thrilled to join the NIPDD Academic Council having been a participant more than a decade ago in this valuable educational program.

Dr Cullison and his wife of 37 years Beth have two sons, one new (2008) grandchild and enjoy traveling (especially Hawaii---34 trips and counting), daily exercise, theater, music, and sampling every fine restaurant’s cuisine he can find.