From Harvard Public Health NOW, September 21, 2001:
On Tuesday, September 11, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania killed several thousand people. We as a school continue to learn of losses suffered by our community members and volunteers who work on behalf of HSPH in many arenas. We extend our deepest sympathies to them and their families.
In Memoriam: Paul Ambrose
It is with deep regret that we report the death of HSPH alumnus Paul Ambrose, MPH 2000. Ambrose was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington, DC to Los Angeles that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11. He was 32 years old.
Ambrose earned an MPH degree with a concentration in family and community health at HSPH one year ago. His work focused on the Lincoln County Breast Cancer Prevention Project, a community-based project in West Virginia aimed at increasing the use of mammography services by rural women.
Ambrose had dedicated his career to health policy issues. He earned an MD at Marshall University School of Medicine in West Virginia in 1995 and completed his residency at Dartmouth Medical School in 1999. There, Ambrose helped create a joint preventive medicine and family practice residency program with faculty member Wayne Dysinger. The program launched this fall with two residents who will now be called Paul Ambrose Fellows, said Dysinger
While at HSPH, Ambrose was named a Luther Terry Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and, after graduation, served as a senior advisor to the US Surgeon General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. His recent work focused on curbing the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States, and he was traveling to Los Angeles on September 11 to attend a conference on the topic.
“Paul was a bright and energetic young man who clearly had embarked on a promising career in public health practice,” said Roberta Gianfortoni, director for professional education at HSPH, who knew Ambrose well.
In addition to working with the Surgeon General, Ambrose also practiced medicine at a clinic for underserved populations in Arlington, Virginia.
From 1995 to 1996, Ambrose served as National Director of Legislative Affairs for the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), which has 30,000 members.
Before his death, Ambrose lived in Georgetown with his fiancée. They were engaged three weeks ago.
A scholarship fund has been established at the Marshall University School of Medicine in West Virginia. Send donations to the Marshall University Foundation, 1542 Spring Valley Drive, Huntington, WV 24704 (write in the memo field: School of Medicine/Ambrose Scholarship).
Read stories about Paul Ambrose from the Harvard Crimson: