Three U of T students named 2013 Rhodes Scholars

Three students from the University of Toronto will pursue post-graduate studies at Oxford University next year after being named Rhodes Scholars for 2013.

The Rhodes Scholarships are among the world’s most prestigious postgraduate awards supporting outstanding all-round students at Oxford. Only 83 students from universities around the world – and 11 from Canada - are chosen each year.  The University of Toronto is the only university in Canada with more than one Rhodes Scholar this year. 

The three U of T recipients are: Joanne Cave, studying women and gender studies and sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Science, Woodsworth College; Connor Emdin, studying biochemistry and global health at the Faculty of Arts and Science, Trinity College; and Ayodele Odutayo, studying medicine in the Faculty of Medicine.

“We are very proud of the accomplishments of these three outstanding students," said David Naylor, President of the University of Toronto. "They show great promise in their fields of study, and are emerging as leaders and innovators in Canadian society and in the global community.”

Cave, a resident of Sherwood Park, Alberta, has been involved in public service since childhood. At 12, she founded and led Ophelia’s Voice, a girls’ leadership organization in Alberta. Recently, she co-founded a network of young non-profit professionals called Connect the Sector. Earlier this year, she won a Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Person's Case for her work for women and girls’ equality. She has done internship work at Ottawa’s Caledon Institute of Social Policy and a women's microfinance NGO in northern India. (Read more about Cave and her reaction to the honour here.)

Emdin, from Toronto, is completing a Bachelor of Science degree at U of T. He is the co-founder of Salt for Survival, a student-run fundraising organization for salt iodization programs. His research interests are focused on increasing access to HIV treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa and using pulse oximetry (non-invasive measurement of oxygen levels in blood) to improve clinical care in low income health centers.At Oxford, he will study the relationship between public policy and health outcomes in developing countries. (Read more about Emdin and his reaction to the honour here.)

Odutayo, from Brampton, Ontario, is a fourth-year medical student who has worked as a research trainee at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. The first 12 years of his life were divided equally between Nigeria and the British Virgin Islands, sparking an interest in how to improve the quality of healthcare both in Canada and internationally. He has served as the co-director of the University of Toronto International Health Program (UTIHP) and interned at the World Health Organization. (Read more about Odutayo and his reaction to the honour here.)