Paul Ambrose, a 2000 graduate of the School of Public Health (HSPH), died in last Tuesday’s terrorist attack on the Pentagon. He was 32.

Ambrose was a passenger on the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, scheduled to fly from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, which crashed into the military complex Tuesday morning.

He began his medical career in 1995, when he graduated from the Marshall University School of Medicine, located in his hometown of Huntington, W. Va.

He went on to work at the American Medical Student Association as the Legislative Affairs Director before doing his residency in family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School from 1996 to 1999.

Ambrose attended HSPH from 1999 to 2000, concentrating on family and community health.

At the time of his death, Ambrose was working with the Surgeon General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He was flying to Los Angeles to attend a conference on obesity issues.

Friends and colleagues describe Ambrose as a talented and caring doctor with a bright career in his future.

“Paul was a brilliant physician who was very sensitive,” Dr. David Satcher, the surgeon general, told the Washington Times. “He was an up-and-coming star in the area of public health. He was destined to be one of the great leaders.”