John M. Flack, MD, MPH, FAHA, FASH, MACP

Expert Publications

• Urinary sodium and potassium profile of blacks and whites in relation to education in two different geographic urban areas. TOMHS Research Group. Treatment of Mild Hypertension Study.
• Difficult-to-treat hypertensive populations: focus on African-Americans and people with type 2 diabetes.
• Combination antihypertensive drug therapy: a therapeutic option long overdue.
• The rapidity of drug dose escalation influences blood pressure response and adverse effects burden in patients with hypertension: the Quinapril Titration Interval Management Evaluation (ATIME) Study. ATIME Research Group.
• Optimal blood pressure on antihypertensive medication.
• Minimizing the progression of kidney disease. Introduction.
• Salt sensitivity and hypertension in African Americans: implications for cardiovascular nurses.
• Design of the Omapatrilat in Persons with Enhanced Risk of Atherosclerotic events (OPERA) trial.
• New salt-sensitivity metrics: variability-adjusted blood pressure change and the urinary sodium-to-creatinine ratio.
• Effect of ramipril versus amlodipine on renal outcomes in hypertensive nephrosclerosis.
• Screening and prevention of chronic kidney disease.
• The effect of doxazosin on sexual function in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia, hypertension, or both.
• Cardiovascular disease costs associated with uncontrolled hypertension.
• NKF's KEEP leads to [longitudinal study].
• Diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in children and adolescents.

Clinical Trials

• Vitamin D Augmentation of Tekturna (Aliskiren) in Hypertension

Media Releases

Get to know Internist and Hypertension Specialist Dr. John M. Flack, who serves patients in Springfield, Illinois.

Dr. Flack is a board-certified internist and an American Society of Hypertension (ASH)-certified clinical hypertension specialist. He currently serves as Director of the Hypertension Clinic through the Department of Internal Medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois. Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is a  medical school with four areas of excellence: medical education, patient care, research, and community service. It was established in 1970 with a mission to educate physicians for central and southern Illinois. 

Dr. Flack is Vice President of the American Society of Hypertension (ASH) Specialist Board. He is also a member of the AHA Research Strategic Outcomes Committee, the Alpha Omega Honor Society, the Psychosocial Risk and Disease Prevention NIH Study Section, and the Environmental Health Sciences Review Committee. 

Dr. Flack was an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health Division of Epidemiology and was Principal Investigator on two NHLBI-funded studies: the Treatment of Mild Hypertension Study (TOMHS) and the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. He was also a Co-Principal Investigator on the NHLBI-funded Sodium Sensitivity in Blacks Study. Between 1992 and 1994, Dr. Flack was also Section Chief of General and Preventive Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. In August of 1994, he moved to Bowman Gray Medical School to serve as an Associate Professor of Surgery, Medicine, and Public Health Sciences, as well as an Associate Director and Medical Director of the Hypertension Center Clinical Facilities.

Dr. Flack is board-certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). The ABIM is a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization driven by doctors who want to achieve higher standards for better care in a rapidly changing world.

Dr. Flack earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Langston University in 1978, followed by his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 1982. He served as Chief Medicine Resident at OUHSC from 1982 to 1986. He graduated with his Master’s of Public Health (MPH) degree in epidemiology and completed a National Institutes of Health fellowship in cardiovascular epidemiology at the University of Minnesota in 1990. He joined the Wayne State University School of Medicine as Associate Chair of the Department of Medicine in 1997.

Dr. Flack has special expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of secondary forms of hypertension, difficult to control (resistant) hypertension, and hypertension in African Americans. Dedicated to improving patient outcomes, he is actively involved in testing new drugs and devices for the treatment of resistant hypertension. His research also suggests that vitamin D – a safe, cheap and readily available over-the-counter supplement – is useful in helping overweight African Americans with hypertension and severe vitamin D deficiency to lower their blood pressure and lose weight. 

Dr. Flack has published over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts, editorials, and book chapters in the areas of hypertension therapeutics, salt and blood pressure, and cardiorenal epidemiology. He is a manuscript reviewer for approximately 30 peer-reviewed medical journals, including Ethnicity and Disease, JAMA, Hypertension, Circulation, and the American Journal of Medicine. He also serves on the editorial boards of Ethnicity and Disease, Hypertension, Therapeutic Advances in Cardiovascular Disease, the Journal of the Cardiometabolic Syndrome, Current Hypertension Reviews, and Internal Medicine/Cardiology News.

Repeatedly named one of the “Best Doctors in America,” Dr. Flack has received the Pillar of Excellence Award from the Michigan Peer Review Organization and the Health Care Hero Award from Crain’s Detroit Business in 2005 for health disparities-related research.

Internal medicine or general medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They manage and prevent common and complex diseases by providing comprehensive care and promoting overall wellbeing. Dr. Flack’s treatment philosophy is to gradually lower blood pressure with diet (reduction in dietary sodium, moderation in alcohol intake, appropriate increase in physical activity, and weight loss) with careful selection of well-tolerated anti-hypertensive drugs that are not only effective but safe in the combinations used. 

Dr. Flack is married. He and his wife have 5 daughters. 

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