Brianna Rader, a Haslam Scholar and a senior in the College Scholars program from Knoxville, is an alternate for a Marshall Scholarship for graduate study in Great Britain.
Rader, a graduate of Halls High School, was one of the top regional applicants for the scholarship. Being an alternate means she could still be awarded a Marshall Scholarship if a slot opens up. UT has had only two previous Marshall Scholarship winners, Thomas Horton in 1982 and C. Thomas Mitchell in 1983.
Rader also was a semifinalist for the Mitchell Scholarship, named in honor of former US Senator George Mitchell, which provides for a year of postgraduate study in Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Through College Scholars, Rader has created her own pre-med degree path in medical humanities. In addition to gaining a foundation for medical school through natural science courses, she has focused on philosophy, public health, cinema studies, and history to get a nonscientific perspective on medicine. Her senior project is a study of hepatitis B in East Tennessee.
Rader plans to pursue both a medical degree and a global health degree. She’s now applying for master’s degree programs in global health in the United Kingdom and in the United States. She plans to attend medical school in 2015.
“With these degrees, I will have the ability to make systematic changes for the health of communities and large populations,” she said. “My ultimate career goal is to work for a humanitarian organization like CARE or a global health foundation like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I enjoy marketing, funding, and implementation in addition to medicine.”
Rader has been involved in numerous activities during college, but may be best known as the co-founder of SEAT (Sexual Empowerment and Awareness at Tennessee) and UT’s Sex Week. Sex Week, which will be held for the second time in 2014, is a week-long series of programs that aims to foster a comprehensive and academically informed conversation about sex, sexuality, gender, and relationships.
Rader also founded Arts & Alzheimer’s–Knoxville, which united several Alzheimer’s organizations and art museums to provide artistic and cultural programming for individuals living with Alzheimer’s. She also has participated in Clinic Vols, the American Medical Student Association, the Issues Committee, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Honors Ambassadors, and tutoring at Fulton High School.
Rader has found time for two study abroad experiences. She traveled to Tokyo, Japan, for a mini-term with her fellow Haslam Scholars and later spent a full semester in Pune, India, studying public health, film, and social justice. While in India, Rader produced a short documentary on hijras, transgendered individuals living in South Asia. She also participated in Yale’s Interdisciplinary Bioethics Summer Institute program last summer.
Rader worked with a local physician on concussion research and helped with a presentation to the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine and an article that will be published early next year in Southern Medical Journal. She also assisted with research in UT Medical Center’s Human Immunology and Cancer Program and helped write an article published in PLoS One.
The British Parliament established the Marshall Scholarship in 1953 to honor US General George Marshall, a World War II soldier and diplomat. The program seeks to “strengthen the enduring relationship between the British and American peoples, their governments and their institutions.” Each year, up to forty students are chosen to receive the scholarships to attend graduate school in the United Kingdom.
The Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships assisted Rader with the application process. Created in 2007, the office informs students about scholarship opportunities and helps them through the highly competitive processes. For more information about the Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships, see onsf.utk.edu.
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CONTACT:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)