Dr. Hanson was born in Chicago, Illinois, and lived during his preteen years in the north shore suburb of Glencoe. His grade school classmates recall his strong fascination with history, current events, and national politics from fifth grade onward, as well as his passion for music. During several summers he attended National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, where he became the first chair clarinetist in the orchestra of his age division.

When he was fifteen years old, his family moved to Connecticut. During his last two years of secondary school education, he attended Phillips Academy, Andover, where his studies included Ancient Greek and Latin including Virgil’s Aeneid. His subsequent education included Harvard College, where he received the Detur Award for Academic Excellence and graduated with honors, Harvard Medical School, and Georgetown Law School. He completed postdoctoral training in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1979 achieved board certification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Thereafter, he entered a career of uniformed public and military service with assignments including the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Services and Mental Health Administration (later reorganized and known as the National Institute of Mental Health the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the CDC), and staffer for the Director of the National Institutes of Health; later he served as the Director of Psychiatric Research at Walter Reed Hospital and the Associate Chief of Psychiatry for the largest army hospital in Europe, the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany.

Following retirement from Federal service, he became a partner with the Greater Lowell Psychiatric Associates, served on the psychiatric staff for several hospitals and clinics, established a small office practice as well as served as medical director for the northern region of SBS long term care consulting and also for the Charlotte White Center in Maine.

He also served as President of the WISE Foundation. During the 2020 election, he served in State College, Pennsylvania, as the chief policy advisor for the U.S. Congressional candidate Lee Griffin. Dr. Hanson is married and loves spending time with his grandchildren in Budapest. He is also currently enrolled as an online graduate student in the English Department of Southern New Hampshire University.

-Tristan Palazzo