By Lori (Varga) Riley
There was no doubt in his mind. Kai Hansen would enroll at Seton Hall. It was a decision he made easily after visiting the University and nearby New York City during his senior year of high school in 2021, setting in motion the next leg of his journey to embrace all the world had to offer.
He and his family lived in Texas at the time, but Hansen had spent much of his youth — from age 7 through 16 — living in East Africa. His father was a volunteer surgeon missionary at a small hospital in Kijabe, Kenya, a town on the edge of the Great Rift Valley and about 30 miles from Nairobi, the country’s capital city.
Kenya was Hansen’s home throughout a formative part of his life, he says. His experiences there were infused with local culture and global character. He attended an international boarding school with hundreds of students from around the world, but he didn’t live on the campus. He lived with his family in the community.
“There was a simplicity to just being able to walk everywhere and to know everyone and be known,” he says. While he considers himself to be fast-paced these days, he remembers Kijabe for “its grace, the community, the patience — it’s a kind of cultural patience.”
A life exposed to an expanse of different experiences is what Hansen knew and loved; he was eager to go to a college where he would have his choice of opportunities. During his time at Seton Hall, Hansen also has entrenched himself in activities to help others get access to support and resources — including some that can be lifesaving.
One of his first initiatives as Student Government Association president — he was elected in 2023 — was the launch of a public health program that aims to prevent drug-related deaths. Aware of the nation’s opioid crisis, Hansen wanted Seton Hall to be part of the movement to make naloxone nasal spray more widely available because of its ability to rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
In collaboration with the Office of the Dean of Students and other University groups, he started a program to train students to administer naloxone spray.
“Narcan [a brand name of naloxone] is a product that can truly save lives at a very marginal cost,” he says.
“Out of the gate, Kai hit the ground running and accomplished those trainings, which are still going on,” says Winston Roberts, the University’s assistant vice president for student services and the dean of student engagement. “Kai brings a level of maturity to his role as a student leader. He thinks with an empathetic sense.”
Hansen’s career ambitions are also health related. His undergraduate majors are chemistry, philosophy and business administration — yes, three majors — and he’s also a researcher in the campus laboratory of Professor Alexander Fadeev in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
“My interest is in materials science, specifically making medical materials with antimicrobial and antifouling properties for coating medical devices, such as scissors used in surgery, to help reduce contamination and infection occurrences,” Hansen says. Surgical site infections are a major issue in health care, with the highest risks being in developing countries, he says. That’s why he envisions his future career to include helping find solutions in sub-Saharan Africa, where complex resource limitations are painfully impacting human health.
“In regions of the world where they don’t have the cleanest water supply, the ability to sterilize medical equipment for reuse is compromised,” he says. “If I can find ways to decrease the risk of surgery complications by making antibacterial or self-cleaning coatings for medical devices, then that could save lives.”
After Seton Hall, Hansen plans to enter an M.D./Ph.D. graduate program. He acknowledges that his academic and career paths may change, but he’s sure — as sure as he was about Seton Hall — that he wants to make a difference in the world.
Lori (Varga) Riley, M.A. ‘06, is a freelance writer living in New Jersey.
