Dr. Ferdinand was a member of the ALLHAT Data Safety and Monitoring Board and chair of Section Four of the Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee. He was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Minority Populations for the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and a member of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program Coordinating Committee. He was director of the NHLBI Physician’s Health Network, a program that educated physicians and the lay population on cardiovascular risk reduction.

He is past president and former member of the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, past president of the Orleans Division of the American Heart Association, and past chair of the Board of Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc.

Dr. Ferdinand received his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. He is board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease, a diplomat certified in the subspecialty of nuclear cardiology, an American Society of Hypertension certified specialist in clinical hypertension.  In addition, he is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Fellow of the American Heart Association, and Fellow of the National Lipid association.  Dr. Ferdinand has written for Cardiology Clinics, Annual of Drug Therapy, and Cardiovascular Diseases in Blacks.  Dr. Ferdinand is Editor-in-Chief of the 2009 Educational Review Manual in Cardiovascular Disease (Castle Connolly). He is co-author of Overcoming Katrina African American Voices from the Crescent City and Beyond (Palgrave McMillan 2009), a collection of 27 oral histories. He also is co-editor of Cardiovascular Disease in Racial &Ethnic Minorities (Humana Press 2009).

In 2004, Dr. Ferdinand received the Louis B. Russell, Jr. Memorial Award of the American Heart Association and the Walter M. Booker Community Service Award of the Association of Black Cardiologists.

He presently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, displaced from his native New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, September 2005, which destroyed his cardiovascular center and severely damaged his home.  In Atlanta, he is the Chief Science Officer for the Association of Black Cardiologists, as well as the Director of their Hurricane Katrina Relief effort, known as the HOPE (Health Outreach and Empowerment) Initiative.

Additionally, Dr. Ferdinand is a Clinical Professor, Cardiology Division Department of Medicine at Emory University of Atlanta, and an Adjunct Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine, also in Atlanta, Georgia.