Dr. Paul Underwood is an interventional cardiologist with 4 decades’ experience in cardiovascular medicine. Having grown up in Tennessee, on the Knoxville College campus, he believes higher education is critical for Blacks to achieve parity in America. A graduate of Morehouse College, he completed medical school at Mayo Clinic-Rochester followed by cardiology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. Whie serving as the ED and ICU director at St. Croix Hospital he instituted thrombolytic therapy for STEMI and procured the islands first cardiac treadmill. After settling in Phoenix, AZ he started Eclipse Clinical Research Associates to combine research with his clinical practice. This collaboration spawned a medtech software firm during the infancy of mobile technology. He joined Boston Scientifics’s clinical team in 2009. At BSC he supported clinical trials, regulatory submissions and product launches for interventional cardiology and structural heart devices. He was also medical director for Close the Gap, BSC’s data-driven initiative empowering patients and providers toward their health equity goals. In 2023 Paul left BSC to launch Cardio MedSci LLC, a life sciences consulting firm specializing in medical technology.

Paul joined ABC as a cardiology fellow. He co-chaired the CME Committee during the initial ACCME accreditation. His first clinical trial as primary investigator was a heart failure study obtained through the Research Committee. He sat on the ABC Board of Directors in 1999, was vice-president in 2002 and elected president in 2004. In 2009 he was appointed co-chair of the Community Programs Committee and a member of the Health and Public Policy Committee. Dr. Underwood is a Life Member and a staunch advocate for equitable access to evidence-based treatment to eliminate the disparate health outcomes experienced by African Americans. He has also worked with the American Heart Association to legislate installation of AEDs in public places and eliminate indoor tobacco use in Arizona, while nationally he sat on the Power to End Stroke steering committee and was the Women and Children’s Committee liaison to the Scientific Advisory Coordinating Council. He was a founding member of the Center for African American Health – AZ and is a longstanding member of the Arizona Latin-American Medical Association.

He and his wife reside in Phoenix, sharing time with their 5 adult children. While away from his desk he enjoys travel, gardening, and music.