Second-year Harvard Medical School (HMS) student Amar Dhand is Harvard’s sole Canadian Rhodes winner this year.

He plans to use the award to take a hiatus from his primary interest—neurology—and study education at Oxford University next year.

For the 2001 Dartmouth College graduate, the detour to education actually comes from his experiences at HMS.

“With the help of a HMS professor, I initiated a course in medical teaching, which got me thinking about the field,” Dhand said.“I want to look at the different techniques and strategies to improve learning.”

An opportunity to participate in an education project in Vietnam this past summer, made possible by the Hal Dudley White/Andrew Sellard Traveling Fellowship, cemented his passion for education, said Dhand.

While on the trip, he helped develop a peer education model for HIV/AIDS in Vietnam.

A native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Dhand majored in biology, psychology and brain sciences and minored in English at Dartmouth.

He said that two years away from HMS will allow him to pursue his many passions—which run the gamut from English Romantic poets to saxophone—at Oxford next year.

“I want to bring out my saxophone again, and generally trying to get a real depth of experience,” said Dhand. “HMS is very specialized—I wouldn’t be able to have so many opportunities.”

Though it has been two weeks since the announcement of the Canadian Rhodes Scholarship winners, Dhand said he is “still in a little bit of a shock.”

“I called my parents first after being notified. They are dreamy, excited and overwhelmed by all the support that we’ve been receiving from our community,” Dhand said.

Since the announcement, Dhand and his family has received hundreds of congratulatory phone calls from family and friends.

Each year, three recipients from western Canada are named the Canadian Rhodes Scholars. This year, Jeremy L. England ’03, Sue Meng ’03, Anna K. Weiss ’03 and Lindsey O. Worth ’02 are the U.S. Rhodes winners from Harvard.

—Staff writer Yingzhen Zhang can be reached at zhang@fas.harvard.edu.