Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Hamilton is the Director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP) based at The George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

Hamilton has spent her career working at the intersection of health equity and social justice. She previously served as Deputy Director, State Affairs at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), where she led projects focused on expanding Medicaid, defending the Affordable Care Act, and strengthening the ability of community health centers to carry out their mission.

She advanced healthcare workforce development initiatives as part of NACHC’s Community HealthCorps Program, and began her career as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at Legal Assistance of Western NY, where she built a re-entry law clinic and co-managed a law student summer associate program. As a former member of NCMLP’s Advisory Council from 2014-2019, she served as a bridge between the two sectors and was part of the team that oversaw NCMLP’s transition to become a federally-funded technical assistance hub for health centers.

Hamilton has worked in every policy environment across the country – from local to federal, red to blue, rural to urban. She has a unique understanding of healthcare and legal services operations, and the challenges and opportunities inherent in each. She sees medical-legal partnership and NCMLP as a vehicle to help dismantle the systemic inequities that have hindered our progress as a country and threaten to further divide us. Hamilton is dedicated to leveraging her knowledge, leadership, and savvy to accelerate opportunities to improve the systems and policies that most affect health and well-being.

Hamilton earned her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Miami and a Juris Doctor with a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Health Law and Policy from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Hamilton’s top five quotes: “Make it happen.” “Challenge accepted.” “Fix your face.” “I’ve got a song for this.” “You’ve got this!”