Meet the Class of 2026 Health Scholars

Princeton University’s Center for Health and Wellbeing (CHW) has selected six students as Class of 2026 Health Scholars. All of them will receive financial support for travel and research to pursue internships and senior thesis research that relate to domestic and international health care and health policy.

A small group of juniors is selected for the program annually through a rigorous application process focusing on both academic performance and plans for work and research on health policy issues.

“These students represent Princeton University’s best and brightest scholars in the field of global health,” stated Gilbert Collins, executive director of CHW and director of global health programs.

Scholars are supported for two years, engaging in fully funded health-related internships or independent research during the summer following junior year and then writing senior theses with a health policy dimension. They may also participate in health policy seminars and lectures, broadening their understanding of global health challenges while interacting with distinguished speakers and visitors. 

The Health Scholars initiative is part of CHW’s Global Health Program, which offers the opportunity for undergraduates to minor in Global Health and Health Policy while exploring the world’s most pressing health issues through academic study, innovative research, and experiential learning.

Meet the Class of 2026 Health Scholars, all of whom are minoring in Global Health and Health Policy:

• Maya Butani, a molecular biology major, will study how innovation in biomaterials-based vaccines, which eliminate the need for multiple injections, will affect the political economy of malaria vaccine distribution. By considering the global health ramifications of the technology while still in development, she aims to offer insights for establishing a more robust pipeline between early biomedical research and translation that addresses health inequities.
   
• Elliot Lee, an operations research & financial engineering major, will explore how the Affordable Care Act expansion (in 2013) may have spurred an unrealized distinction between psychiatric care provided by for-profit and non-profit hospitals. Specifically, he will determine whether trends in insurance payouts to the differing entities have diverged over the past decade, following the ADA’s provision of coverage for mental health and substance abuse disorders.
   
• Brian Mhando, an ecology & evolutionary biology major, plans to use environmental disease models to study the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs among school girls in rural Tanzania. Ultimately, he hopes to draft a policy proposal highlighting the social determinants of health that influence his research results, such as inadequate access to clean water and sanitation, while providing solutions for this health care crisis.
   
• Sarina Sheth, an economics major, will investigate the causal effect of Australia’s Access to Allied Psychological Services program on suicide rates among Indigenous Australians compared to the non-Indigenous population. As part of this research, she will assess whether the program’s impact is affected by socioeconomic status and household location. Her overall goal is to illuminate how health policies can remediate health inequities and address the underlying foundations of historical trauma, colonialism, and structural violence.
   
• Arec Keomurjian, an anthropology major, seeks to elucidate disparities in disability health policy and interventions across high-income nations, specifically South Korea and the United States. Toward that end, he will conduct ethnographies of South Korean medical practitioners and families affected by autism spectrum disorder. The analysis will shed light on the nuances of autism stigmatization in South Korea and establish a framework for cross-cultural comparisons between South Korea and the U.S.
   
• Ruth Rocker, an anthropology major, will research how shifts in access to reproductive and sexual health pharmaceuticals are navigated in Latin America. She is interested in examining how Western medical and cultural conceptions of health interact with local health practices and conceptions of the body. Rocker will conduct the research while interning at an NGO advocating for the expansion of reproductive rights.

The Center for Health and Wellbeing is an interdisciplinary center within Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, which seeks to foster research and teaching on the multiple aspects of health and wellbeing in both developed and developing countries.