William R. Hiatt

1950 - 2020

Hiatt, William R.
06/01/1950 - 12/08/2020

Dr. William R. Hiatt was born in Denver, Colorado to Luana Read and William H. Hiatt. He was a graduate of Denver Country Day School (1968), Knox College (1972), and Cum Laude from the University of Colorado School of Medicine (1976). William completed his residency in Internal Medicine at University Hospital in Boston and his fellowship in Vascular Medicine at the University of Colorado. He was a Professor of Medicine with tenure at the University of Colorado, held the Novartis Foundation Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research and served as President and Chief Science Officer of CPC Clinical Research, a non-profit Academic Research Organization affiliated with the University of Colorado. After being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016, he never let the disease slow him down. He still could be seen running or biking to work, swimming on his master's swim team, and experiencing the mountains.
William was a Past President of the Society of Vascular Medicine and served as Chair of the American Heart Association's Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease. He also was 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 served as a member and Chair of the US Food and Drug Administration Cardiovascular and Renal Division Advisory Committee. 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 and the Chair of the Clinical and Translational Research Advisory Committee and served on the Board of the Gates Biomanufacturing facility. He was a teacher and mentor for numerous physician scientists and provided care to countless patients with complex cardiovascular disease.
In addition to his profound impact on the medical community and his patients, he touched and changed lives across the world. He lived life with purpose, experiencing the natural world and humanity deeply. He was a mountaineer, a cowboy, and a true Colorado man. He was a lifelong athlete - marathon runner, swimmer, and he climbed every 14-er in Colorado and several peaks across the world, including Aconcagua in Argentina, Mt. Kailash in Tibet, and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. William was a long time Board Member of the Colorado Outward Bound School.
He was a gentle soul who deeply cared about his friends and colleagues, but especially his family, who will miss him dearly. William is survived by his wife of 48 years, Susan Hiatt, daughter Kelsey Hiatt Wasylenky (Michael), his three beloved grandchildren, Sydney, Maelle and Sloan, his sister Valerie Burke (Timothy), brother Charles Hiatt (Eileen), and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial will be scheduled at a later date. Gifts in his memory may be given to CPC Clinical Research, 2115 N. Scranton St., Suite 2040, Aurora, CO 80045 (cpcclinicalresearch.org).