Posted on Jan. 8: McMaster student named Rhodes scholar
McMaster University student Maureen Hogan has been awarded a prestigious Rhodes scholarship.
The Newfoundland native, who is a third-year medical student, received the news that she has been selected as her province's representative among the 11 Canadian Rhodes scholars for 2004.
The scholarships, valued at $100,000 each, provide students from around the world the opportunity to study at the University of Oxford in England for two to three years.
Maureen, 23, plans to study for her masters of science in research beginning in October 2004. Her program in the neurogenetics of mental illness will be self-directed, a way of learning she appreciated during her medical training at McMaster.
“I'm excited about the opportunity to study with people from all over the world and exchange different viewpoints. I'm also looking forward to consolidating what I've learned so far, and to broaden my knowledge of mental illness.”
She began her medical program thinking she'd become a clinical doctor. Now she's determined to also be an academic physician and researcher, and will take her residency in psychiatry.
“I've been intrigued by the research opportunities. I'm looking forward to engaging in further research opportunities at Oxford.”
During her medical training she has been involved in research projects varying from examining the genetics of childhood obesity and looking at the drug effects in psychiatric patients to surveying students' perceptions of the problem-based learning methodology used at McMaster and writing a research grant application to test alternative methods of breast cancer detection.
And her medical training in psychiatry taught her that this was the area she will study.
“I loved my psychiatry rotation. I was struck by the suffering these people encounter and I would like to be a public advocate for mental illness.”
John Kelton, dean and vice-president, Faculty of Health Sciences, said the scholarship is a measure of the excellence of students attending the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
“Our students are self-directed and motivated. They are receiving the very best in medical education and will succeed wherever their careers take them. We're very proud of Maureen,” he said.
Besides her academic studies, Maureen has played varsity and provincial level soccer and has had extensive involvement with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award program.
British financier Cecil Rhodes established Rhodes scholarships in 1903. Rhodes scholars must exhibit proven intellectual and academic attainment, integrity of character, interest in others, and the ability to lead.
