Dr. Cunningham, MD, MPH, FACEP, FAEMS is Texas native and a board-certified emergency medicine physician with a sub-specialty board certification in emergency medical services (EMS). Dr Cunningham has been using Ketamine in his hospital-based emergency medicine practice for procedural sedation since 2003 and began administering it for chronic pain conditions in the hospital setting for the past 10 years.
He has researched and published on Ketamine use in the military pre-hospital setting for its pain properties. In addition to his emergency room practice and military pre-hospital practice Dr. Cunningham has routinely managed behavioral health conditions outside of emergent decompensation in the military as a unit physician. This experience which is unique for most physicians sparked his interest in the use of Ketamine as an adjunct or replacement for many of the currently prescribed medications that often have undesirable side effects. Dr. Cunningham worked closely with his clinic partner Dr. Daanen while in the military. He also has worked closely with paramedic and flight nurse Will Ratliff in his civilian practice.
Colonel (US Army Reserves) Cord Cunningham’s commitment to serve others began wih his active duty career when he was commissioned as a second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps upon graduation from the military academy at West Point in 1995. He served as a platoon leader and executive officer in B Co, 112th Special Operations Signal Battalion, Signal Detachment Commander, and S-1(Personnel Officer) of 2nd Battalion/7th Special Forces Group at Ft Bragg, NC. He attended the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences attaining his medical doctorate and trained in emergency medicine at Brooke Army Medical Center from 2003-2006, as well training in EMS with Colonel (ret) Bob Mabry (Silver Star recipient from 1993 Battle of Mogadishu) as his fellowship director from 2013-2015.
Dr. Cunningham served as the Battalion surgeon for 2nd Ranger Battalion and surgical resuscitation team member for U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) deploying as direct and pre-hospital medical support of special operations forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Cunningham also served as a flight surgeon and medical director for a 15 ship Army medical evacuation unit and 3,000 person aviation brigade at Fort Hood as well as the medical director for the Army’s critical care flight paramedic program. Dr. Cunningham is a graduate of the US Army ranger school, a dive medical officer, senior rated flight surgeon, and master rated parachutist.
After serving over 20 years on Active Duty, Dr. Cunningham is currently in the US Army Reserves with the Army reserve element for USSOCOM. He also performs duties as the chairman of the joint trauma system committee on en-route combat casualty care. In addition, he is faculty for the DoD pre-hospital and disaster medicine fellowship. Dr. Cunningham is also still a full-time practicing emergency medicine physician.
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