Ethan Hamilton
2025 Hoyas for Science Recipient
M.S. in Biohazardous Threat Agents & Emerging Infectious Diseases
Scientific knowledge, especially those that carry destructive potential, requires immense responsibility to promote openness and peace between nations.
About Ethan
Ethan is from Connellsville, Pennsylvania. Before coming to Georgetown Biomedical Graduate Education, he earned a Bachelor of Science from West Virginia University.
How do you approach challenges in your life?
I believe in taking challenges, uncertainties, pitfalls, and rejections as a form of redirection. It is in my view that these challenges are inherent in our understanding of the human condition and life. My outlook on moving beyond these challenges teaches me to carry them willingly, and with a resolve that inevitably, it will work out in ways that I couldn’t possibly have imagined or expected. I would say my attitude towards these challenges is rooted in this belief, and one that I use to approach life in general.
Why did you choose your program at Georgetown BGE for your graduate studies?
I chose the BHTA program at Georgetown and BGE because I wanted to to study the intersection of science, policy, and national security. My background is in Immunology and public health, but I’ve always been drawn to how scientific evidence becomes law, regulation, and national strategy. Georgetown’s location in Washington DC, our nation’s capital, made it a prime choice for me, as I wanted proximity to federal agencies and emphasis on translational, policy-relevant science. It was the ideal place to train as someone who wants to operate where science, security, and governance meets.
What do you want to do after earning your degree?
After my degree, I want to work in roles that bridge public health, biodefense, and national security strategies. I want to work in federal service, a think tank, or a defense policy consulting firm. Long-term, I plan to pursue a JD to compliment my scientific and public health training so I can help shape health security, biosecurity, and technology policy at the legal and strategic level. I want to help protect populations from emerging threats by translating science into sound policy and law.
If you could meet one scientist, who would you want to meet and why?
I would want to meet Niels Bohr, one of the premier founders of quantum mechanics. I would want to meet him because I believe he was a rare example of a scientist who deeply understood the moral and political weight of the power of science. During and after WW2, Bohr worked on the Manhattan Project, however, his work in advocating for international cooperation and nuclear arms control showed what I believe is his most respectable trait: that scientific knowledge, especially those that carry destructive potential, require immense responsibility to promote openness and peace between nations.