A true testament to student-athlete success both athletically and academically, Keith Hamilton '02 showcased his talents for the Franklin & Marshall Track & Field team from the moment he stepped on campus. By the time he graduated, Hamilton had led his team to a conference championship, broken multiple school records, received an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, and graduated at the top of his class.
With Hamilton as one of the F&M leaders, the Diplomats reached the pinnacle of the Centennial Conference, winning the team championship despite entering the meet as underdogs. In doing so, they became the only team outside of Johns Hopkins, Haverford, or Dickinson to ever win a Centennial team championship in track & field. Hamilton was right in the middle of F&M's championship success as a member of the school record 4x400 relay. The win allowed the Diplomats to celebrate their team title in style by also claiming the last event of the meet with a time of 3:26.70 that still stands as the school record. He would add another conference gold to his individual haul during the 2002 season as a member of the 4x200 relay team.
Leaving his name all over the track & field record books, Hamilton graduated as the school record holder in the 600 meters, also ranking second in both the 400 meters and the 4x200 meter relay. He displayed a great diversity of skill with top-five marks in both the 55-meter hurdles and triple jump. All of those personal bests still rank among the top 10 in program history. During the spring season, Hamilton graduated with the school record in the 4x100 outdoor relay and was ranked third in both the 110 and 400 meter hurdle events.
Despite these lofty athletic accomplishments, no award more greatly defines Hamilton's impact than when he became the 10th student athlete in the College's history to receive the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Earning a degree in chemistry, he was twice recognized as a CoSIDA Academic All-American. Both of those awards honor student-athletes who have made a truly outstanding impact in their sport, as well as in the classroom. Hamilton was further honored as a Delphic Scholar-Athlete and earned the William J. Iannicelli Award during his junior season.
Hamilton went on to use his NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship at the University of Pennsylvania, where he continued to run competitively, placing first in the Olympic Development Division of the Penn Relays during two consecutive seasons. The academic success continued as well, with Hamilton selected as the graduation speaker for his medical class in 2006. Hamilton completed an Internal Medicine Residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, receiving the highest teaching honor bestowed by the School of Medicine for residents — the Penn Pearl Teaching Award. He was also selected to receive the highest teaching award for a graduating resident, the Maurice Attie Senior Resident Teaching Award.
After residency, Hamilton completed an award-winning Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Penn before staying on as a faculty member, where he continues to serve as Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine. With an interest in epidemiology and antibiotic resistance, he has dedicated a significant portion of his time to antibiotic stewardship and serves as the Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship maintaining an active research program. Prior to COVID-19, Hamilton had the foresight to establish the Penn Medicine COVID-19 Therapeutics Committee, which he chairs to this day. Through this work, he established some of the first guidelines for the treatment of COVID-19, which have served as a national reference source. For this work, Hamilton was recently named the recipient of the Richard P. Shannon Leadership Award in Quality in Patient Safety, in 2022.
