NCAA Honors Dr. Erika Proko Hamilton '03
Congratulations to Dr. Erika Proko Hamilton, a member of the Washington and Lee Class of 2003.
A star tennis player during her student years, and a new member of our Athletic Hall of Fame, Erika just received a new honor, this one from the NCAA: Recognition as a former student-athlete who exemplifies “the division’s attributes of proportion, comprehensive learning, passion, responsibility, sportsmanship and citizenship—not just during their time on campus, but also in their careers or avocations.” The recognition is part of the NCAA’s Division III 40-in-40 promotion, which is part of the 40th anniversary of Division III.
That description fits Erika to a T. A six-time All-American for the tennis team, she received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year.
She earned her M.D. in 2007 from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2007 and did a fellowship in hematology/oncology at Duke University in 2013. She is currently a senior investigator in the breast cancer research program at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tenn., which sponsors community-based clinical trials in oncology.
Brian Laubscher, W&L’s sports information director, nominated her for the 40-in-40 honor, and a blog post that he wrote for the 2013 Athletics Hall of Fame class helped convince the NCAA panel.
As he wrote, as a student “Erika was driven to succeed. She strived to become a doctor in order to help others. I had no doubt she would succeed.”
