Senior Kurt Herzer and graduate Rishi Mediratta ('08), both majors in public health, have been awarded prestigious Marshall Scholarships, a two-year grant to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom that is given to 40 students annually.
Herzer will pursue a masters degree in social policy at University of Oxford while Mediratta will use the scholarship to study medical anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London in his first year and public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in his second.
Both students, who plan to attend medical school after studying in England, have been described as academic "fanatics," in the best meaning of the word, by John Bader, associate dean for Academic Programs and Advising and scholarship advisor, who has worked closely with both winners.
"Students who win a scholarship like that have a kind of otherworldliness to them, they're really not normal people . . . They have taken interests and passions in their lives and pushed them well beyond the realm of the normal . . . You have to be a bit insane," Bader said.
The 55-year-old scholarship was established by an act of British Parliament to strengthen relations between the two countries.
Due to the universal recognition of the scholarship as one of the top awards for American undergraduates and the paucity of spots available, winning two scholarships in one year gives any university cause to celebrate.
Still, Herzer emphasized he does not view any scholarship as a prize.
"I don't see scholarships as goals. A lot of people do. I see scholarships as means to a greater goal . . . I was surprised and ecstatic, but if I didn't get it, the mission and vision wouldn't have changed," he said.
Herzer, who is a Truman Scholar, is featured on the cover of the most recent issue of Hopkins's Arts & Science Magazine, and plans on studying at either St. Johns or Trinity College within Oxford.
Within the social policy department he will focus on either social epidemiology or evidence-based intervention. Herzer has already spent time in England studying patient safety with a World Health Organization (WHO) program.
Mediratta, the 2008 Hopkins Second Decade Society Walsh Award winner and a Huntington Grant winner, is currently in Gondar, Ethiopia.
He has spent much of his free time during his undergraduate years at Hopkins. He is working with the WHO, UNICEF and Ethiopian officials to decrease child mortality in Ethiopia.
At SOAS, Mediratta will complement his firsthand experience in Africa and studies of public health with more formal studies on Africa, according to Bader.
"He's extremely well-connected there. He knows many officials, academics and civic leaders. But his understanding of the continent is personal and anecdotal. He'll be using the Marshall to complement that with social science study," Bader said.
Both Herzer and Bader agree that Hopkins students are a particularly good fit with the Marshall Scholarship.
"When I first came here eight years ago, I though that Hopkins and Marshall were a very good fit. Marshall puts a very high premium on academic excellence and focus of mission and the kind of personalities that win a Marshall are a little more diverse. Whereas the Rhodes [Scholarship] has a very singular culture that's very aggressive, almost arrogant," Bader said.
Herzer attributed Hopkins success with the Marshall Scholarship to the training students go through to develop an expertise in a certain area.
He believes the Marshall committee seeks students who are pushing forward in a specific field.
"The Marshall and Rhodes are cut from the same cloth in that they're looking for students of extraordinary reach," Bader said.
Including Herzer and Mediratta, Hopkins has won six Marshall Scholarship during Bader's time at Hopkins.
"It was my instinct that the Marshall was something we should be pushing more aggressively and that's worked out. It's really great to see six Marshalls," Bader said.
Although Hopkins had Rhodes finalists at Hopkins this year, neither were awarded the Scholarship.
Hari Prabhakar '07, is the last Hopkins student to win a Marshall Scholarship. He is currently studying at the London School of Hygiene. Prabhakar was also a public health major.
Bader emphasized that Marshall Scholars are world citizens and future leaders.
The committee looks for well-rounded students who have pushed themselves in different ways.
Herzer has worked with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the WHO. He is an avid cyclist, a Truman Scholar and was the sole undergraduate on the presidential search committee.
Herzer plans on using that scholarship to pay for medical school, which he has already applied to, but will not enroll in until after he completes his post-graduate studies at Oxford.
Mediratta was editor-in-chief of a journal, Epidemic Proportions at Hopkins, a member of a Hindi a cappella group, a volunteer for HERO and has worked tirelessly on health issues in Ethiopia.
Although both Herzer and Mediratta have a passion for public health, what is less obvious from their resumes is the quality of their personal character.
"One of the best parts about both of them is that they are very nice men," Director of undergraduate Public Health Studies Kelly Gebo said.
This year, Harvard, MIT and the U.S. Naval Academy each had four students awarded Marshall Scholarships.
