Senior Peter Kalugin wins Rhodes Scholarship

For Peter’s interview with WJZ TV, click here.

This past weekend Peter Kalugin, a KSAS senior majoring in Molecular & Cellular Biology and Mathematics, traveled to Colorado Springs for an interview with former Rhodes Scholars, academics, legal practitioners, and an entrepreneur. The National Fellowships Program is very pleased to announce that Peter was named one of thirty-two Rhodes Scholars from the United States. He will pursue an Msc by Research in Oncology at Oxford University beginning in fall 2015.

His journey to the award began last March after his pre-application earned him an interview with the National Fellowships Program UK Scholarships committee, which is comprised of professors, administrators, and former Rhodes and Marshall winners from Homewood and East Baltimore. After being accepted in the application process for the Gates Cambridge, Rhodes, and Marshall Scholarships, Peter crafted a personal statement that traced his passion for a career in research science that began at age eight amidst the unpredictability that stemmed from moving to four different countries during his childhood. When he arrived at Johns Hopkins, Peter’s interest in science, more specifically biology, burgeoned as he joined Dr. Takanari Inoue’s lab in the Department of Cell Biology at the Medical School. He spent his sophomore year abroad with the St. Anne’s program at Oxford, where he wrote a thesis on pediatric brain cancer—the specialty he intends to pursue when he attends an MD/PhD program following the Rhodes. After returning to Johns Hopkins in his junior year, Peter resumed his work in the Inoue lab and shadowed a pediatric neurosurgeon, during which time he appreciated the challenging opportunity to interact with pediatric oncology patients. In future work, he intends to study the signaling that occurs between cancerous cells and understand how they direct their growth in response to stimuli and, in parallel, synthesize drugs targeting these signals to hinder the cancer’s control over itself.

Peter’s commitment to helping children has also manifested itself through tutoring English in a program for refugee children at Oxford and his founding of GO Around the World, a group that connects students with independent local NGOs abroad. Through this program, he volunteered at orphanages in Mongolia and Nepal.

Peter’s other accolades include a nationwide Goldwater Scholarship (click here for more information) and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and a PURA through Johns Hopkins.

For additional news stories, please click on the title:

Johns Hopkins news release

HUB article

PDF Document: Rhodes press release (scroll down to District 13)

The NFP will hold information sessions about the Rhodes and other UK Scholarships beginning in February. Please check Events & Deadlines and/or subscribe to our listserv to keep apprised.