Among his awards, Dr. Cushman received the 2005 Excellence in Leadership Award, Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Control (COSEHC); the 2010 (inaugural) Barnwell Award for outstanding achievement in clinical science, the Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Science Research and Development’s (CSR&D) highest national honor for scientific achievement; the 2017 Inter-American Society of Hypertension Lifetime Achievement Award; and the American Heart Association’s Council on Hypertension 2018 Irvine Page-Alva Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award.

He has been an investigator in many clinical trials relating to hypertension, lipid therapy, and diabetes. He has been the chairman for three 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, 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 four major classes of antihypertensive agents, and 3) Co-Chair for The Diuretic Comparison Project, a randomized VA Cooperative Study comparing the effects of chlorthalidone vs hydrochlorothiazide on major cardiovascular events. He was 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 (2000-2010) and ACCORDION (-2015) extension, and Principal Investigator for the VA Clinical Center Network and Chair of the Intervention Subcommittee of the NHLBI-sponsored Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) (2009-2018), and on the Steering Committees for the diabetes outcome trials EXamination of CArdiovascular OutcoMes with AlogliptIN versus Standard of CarE in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Acute Coronary Syndrome (EXAMINE) and The Effect of LY2189265 on Major Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Reducing Cardiovascular Events with a Weekly INcretin in Diabetes (REWIND). He has almost 360 journal article and book chapter publications, including a number of publications in NEJM, JAMA, and Lancet, and has received more than $60 million in research funding.