Princeton University senior Brian Mhando has been named a recipient of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which covers the full cost of a postgraduate degree at the University of Cambridge. The scholarship recognizes students for their academic excellence, leadership potential, and commitment to improving the lives of others.
Mhando is one of 26 U.S. recipients in the 2026 cohort. Additional winners from other countries will be announced later as part of an international group.
At Princeton, Mhando is majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology and minoring in African studies, African American studies, and global health and health policy. He plans to pursue an MPhil in veterinary science at Cambridge to prepare for a career as an epidemiologist with a focus on village health systems in East Africa. He also intends to pursue a Ph.D. after completing his master’s degree.
In his application, Mhando cited his mother’s experience with breast cancer as a motivation for his interest in global health and developing equitable healthcare systems worldwide.
His research includes work on gonococcal resistance in East Africa, funded thesis research on HIV in Uganda, and publications contributing to interdisciplinary health scholarship. Currently, he is writing his senior thesis on gonorrhea and antibiotic misuse in Ugandan villages based on research and clinical volunteer work conducted last summer.
Mhando wrote that studying at Cambridge would allow him to collaborate with future leaders from Africa who share his goal of improving conditions across the continent: “I will have opportunities to collaborate with Africa’s future world leaders — who, like me, hope to change the continent for the better.”
Bryan Grenfell, Kathryn Briger and Sarah Fenton Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs at Princeton and Mhando’s thesis adviser, said: “He brings a very unusual combination of skills to his senior thesis work, integrating computational biology and medical anthropology. This allows him to understand the impact of infectious disease through these biological, computational and social lenses,” Grenfell added. “I think he’ll go on to great things in global health, and the Gates Scholarship is the ideal next step in this trajectory.”
Mhando’s scientific research experience extends beyond Princeton. He has studied antimicrobial resistance in India; worked on cervical cancer drugs with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals; participated as an EEB intern studying plants on Sedge Island in New Jersey; and researched bird biodiversity as a High Meadows Environmental Institute intern in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.
He has also contributed policy research at Princeton’s Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) and served as a research assistant with the Department of Politics, where he helped organize a public health conference attended by global health leaders.
Barbara Buckinx, research scholar and lecturer at Princeton School of Public and International Affairs who oversees LISD’s Africa Program where Mhando is a fellow and co-leader, praised him: “Brian is one of the most impressive undergraduate students I have worked with.” She continued: “From the moment I hired him as a research assistant, he stood out for his maturity, depth of knowledge, and extraordinary work ethic. He quickly became a true co-organizer of a major international conference and policy work on global health, contributing at the highest professional level.”
Heather Howard, professor at Princeton SPIA who taught Mhando in two courses—“Critical Perspectives in Global Health Policy” and “Health Reform in the U.S.”—said he “stands out for his intellectual curiosity, deep ethical engagement and acute investigative sense,” adding: “I know he will make significant contributions to the field.”
Outside academics, Mhando has tutored chemistry and calculus at Princeton’s McGraw Center; volunteered with Camp Kesem for children whose parents have cancer; served as an Outdoor Action orientation leader; was associate editor at The Daily Princetonian; chaired Princeton’s Undergraduate Student Government Diversity committee; and received national recognition from Princeton Prize in Race Relations while attending Regis High School.
