Tom Beauchamp is a Professor of Philosophy and a Senior Research Scholar in Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics. He was born in Austin, Texas. He took graduate degrees from Yale University and The Johns Hopkins University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1970. He then joined the faculty of the Philosophy Department at Georgetown University, and in the mid-70s accepted a joint appointment at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. In 1976, he joined the staff of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, where he wrote the bulk of The Belmont Report (1978).

Dr. Beauchamp's research interests are in Hume and the history of modern philosophy and practical ethics, especially biomedical ethics and business ethics.