COL David Hamilton is a US Army Physician Assistant (PA), He grew up on a farm, helping raise cattle and tobacco. His parents taught school in a variety of educational settings.
COL Hamilton currently serves as the Commander, 9th Hospital Center, 1st Medical Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas – a 148 bed, 500 Soldier, deployable Hospital and Medical Support unit, as well as serving as the 9th PA Consultant to the Army Surgeon General.
He rapidly deployed the 9th Hospital Center to fight COVID-19 in New York City, serving as one of the commanders of the Javits New York Medical Station, a 500 bed Alternate Care Facility Hospital that cared for more than 1100 COVID-19 Patients in March and April 2020. To watch a short video on Javits New York Medical Station’s COVID-19 response, click here.
His 36-year medical career began as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician on the Felicity-Franklin Life Squad in Ohio from 1984-1990. He joined the Army Reserve in the 1980’s as a military policeman. From 1986-1994 trained and served as a Special Forces communications and medical sergeant and deployed in to Operations Desert Shield and Storm, and several other contingency operations. He attended the Army PA Training Program in 1994, and was commissioned in 1996. As a PA, he served as a Medical Platoon Leader and Battalion PA in infantry and armor battalions. After training as an Occupation Medicine PA, he served as the Chief of Occupational and Environmental Health at Fort Drum, New York.
Returning to an Infantry Brigade, he served as Senior PA in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Germany and Afghanistan in 2006-2010, including 30 months as Medical Company Commander.
As the Interservice Physician Assistant Program Phase 2 Coordinator at Evans Army Community Hospital (ACH), Fort Carson, Colorado, he mentored 30 future Army PAs through their final year of PA school. He was then selected as Commander, Public Health Command District Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 2013 – 2016. COL Hamilton returned to Evans ACH as Deputy Commander for Health Readiness from 2016-2017. He then served as the Deputy Commander of Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 2017-2019.
COL Hamilton has deployed for 39 months as a PA between Iraq and Afghanistan in support of the Global War on Terrorism since 2004. He was selected as the Army Surgeon General’s PA of the Year for 2002, and an Army Medical Specialist Corps Iron Major, is an Order of Military Medical Merit and the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) 2019 Military Service Award recipient, and He is a proud member of the Society of Army Physician Assistants, the AAPA, and the Round Canopy Parachuting Team—USA.
COL Hamilton’s interests include mentoring and guiding collaboration between medics, PAs and other medical professionals to improve healthcare and readiness for Soldiers and their families. Off duty, he enjoys dog training, skiing, snowboarding, teaching skydiving, WW2 re-enactment parachuting and traveling with his family.
COL Hamilton is happily married, and has a son, who is starting his own career.
Acknowledgments: This biography was written by LTC Amelia Duran-Stanton, MAJ Patrick Walsh, and COL David Hamilton and was submitted to the Society in September 2017 and updated in October 2020. Photographs are courtesy of COL Hamilton.
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Disclaimer: The authors’ views do not reflect the official policy of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
