He received his undergraduate education at Baltimore City College and then obtained medical degrees from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1893, where he was a member of Chi Phi fraternity, and the University College of Medicine (in Richmond, Virginia) in 1894 (the latter while serving as house doctor at St. Luke's Hospital in Richmond).

Cumming was assigned to a variety of posts during his early career in the Service, especially quarantine stations in the South and on the West Coast of the United States.

One of his concerns was the shellfish industry, and the potential threat to human health from consuming oysters grown in waters polluted with sewage.

[2] This plan reduced the number of immigrants who were turned back for medical reasons after making the trip to the United States.

Under the Social Security Act of 1935, the PHS was authorized to provide grants-in-aid to the States for the development of public health work.

[7] Hugh Cumming retired as Surgeon General and from active duty in the Public Health Service on 31 January 1936 as a rear admiral.

His son, Hugh S. Cumming Jr., was a career Foreign Service Officer who served as United States Ambassador to Indonesia.