Shantanu Nundy, a second-year medical
student, is among the 30 Paul
and Daisy Soros New American Fellows
for 2006 announced last week. Fellows
receive up to a $20,000 stipend plus half
tuition for as many as two years of graduate
study at any institution of higher learning in
the United States.
Now in their ninth year, the Paul & Daisy
Soros Fellowships for New Americans have
already become one of the most highly recognized
and sought-after awards for graduate
study in the United States. Almost
800 applicants, who are naturalized citizens,
resident aliens or the children of naturalized
citizens, completed applications this year.
They represented 134 countries of national
origin and came from 360 colleges and universities.
The 30 fellows were selected from
84 finalists who were interviewed in New
York and Los Angeles.
Warren F. Ilchman, director of the program,
notes that Nundy “truly exemplifies
the kind of creative, multitalented and
extraordinarily accomplished new American
that Paul and Daisy Soros want to honor and
support through this program."
Nundy, who graduated from MIT in 2004
with a bachelor’s degree in management
science and a perfect 5.0 GPA, was born in
1982 in Toronto to parents of Indian descent;
the family immigrated to the United States
in 1986 and settled in northern Virginia.
While at MIT, he worked part time at various
financial institutions and as a researcher
at the Harvard Business School, Brigham &
Women’s Hospital and the MIT Economics
Department. Each winter, he spent a month
in rural India helping develop a sustainable
health care program for an underserved village.
Since matriculating at Johns Hopkins, he
has conducted research in the Division of
Cardiology and published a paper on medical
malpractice in Health Affairs. He founded
the East Baltimore Community Talent Show
to strengthen ties with the local community
and the Chick-Webb Mentoring Program
for local elementary students. He plans a
career in academic medicine, combining
his interests in basic research, policy and
service.
The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for
New Americans were established in 1997
as a charitable trust of $50 million to assist
new Americans in furthering their careers
through graduate education. The donors,
both new Americans, created the trust to
thank the United States for the life it has
provided for them and their children. There
are currently 60 fellows at 21 universities
studying 21 different subjects..