Previously, Dr. Cummings worked as a Forensic Pathologist and Staff Medical Examiner at Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). He is Board certified in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology and was the Director of the Neuropathology Service at the OCME. He has taught at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and at the University of Maine. Dr. Cummings was a NASA astronaut candidate finalist for 2009 and was a member of the identification teams for the World Trade Center and the Swissair Flight 111 crash.