A sports-mad medical student with a passion for tackling global health inequities has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
Shev Dias, who is studying a Doctor of Medicine at The University of Western Australia, was chosen to progress to Rhodes Scholarship national selection earlier this month before being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship Australia-at-Large last week.
“It's incredible but at the same time I don’t think it has really sunk in yet,” Shev said. “It just feels so surreal as a massive amount of work went into the application process.”
Born in New Jersey, in the United States, before moving to Perth at three years of age, Shev attended All Saints’ College in Bull Creek on a Full-ride Academic Scholarship.
He was also a Winthrop Scholarship recipient and received the P F Sobotka Travel Scholarship to undertake an international elective placement at the University of Arizona during his studies at UWA.
During his time at Oxford University, Shev hopes to undertake a PhD in Musculoskeletal Sciences with a focus on orthopaedic surgery research.
“I’m really driven to try and find a way to reverse osteoarthritis, and the cartilage regeneration space would be an exciting one to work in,” Shev said.
“I hope to also find a way to apply these new techniques to resource-limited regions in the world.”
This year, Shev was Deputy Chair of the Medical Student Council of WA and Vice President External of the WA Medical Students’ Society and wants to get involved with some of the medical societies at Oxford.
“I’m really passionate about medical student equity and wellbeing, global health inequities and global medicine with international collaborative efforts,” he said.
In 2023 and 2024, the self-confessed sport enthusiast, who will “watch any sport”, was the UWA Nationals Team Captain for UWA athletes across all sports competing at the UniSport Nationals and received University Colours in Ultimate Frisbee.
“I would love to get involved with the ultimate frisbee scene at Oxford too,” Shev said. “But more than anything else, I’m just looking forward to being immersed in the Oxford lifestyle and the rich culture of the top university in the world.”
Rhodes Scholarships are awarded based on academic excellence, as well as talents including creative or sporting abilities and traits such as courage, kindness and strength of character.