Dr. Hickson joined the Department of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt in 1982. He served as chief of the division of General Pediatrics and chief of Pediatric Outpatient Services from 1983 until 2003. In 2003, Dr. Hickson founded CPPA and was appointed associate dean for Clinical Affairs. From 2005–2020 Dr. Hickson served as director of Clinical Risk and Loss Prevention and from 2013–2020 and as senior vice president of Quality, Safety and Risk Prevention for Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Since 1990, Dr. Hickson’s research has focused on why families file suit, why certain physicians attract a disproportionate share of claims, how disrespect impacts team performance and outcomes of care and how to identify and intervene with high-risk clinical team members.

His work has resulted in over 200 peer review articles, chapters, invited commentaries and podcasts. In addition, Dr. Hickson has developed educational initiatives to promote disclosure of adverse events and medical errors, address behaviors that undermine a culture of safety and promote and sustain high performing teams. Under his direction, the CPPA developed Patient Advocacy Reporting System) and Coworker Observation Reporting System programs that have been implemented in over 200 health systems internationally that use unsolicited patient and coworker observations as the basis for tiered interventions on high-risk clinicians

Dr. Hickson serves as chair of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement He also serves on the board of directors of keck (USC) Health System and previously served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) and as Chair of the Board of Professionals in Patient Safety (CBPPS).

Dr. Hickson received a BS from the University of Georgia and MD from Tulane University School of Medicine.