Johns Hopkins University graduate Ryan Alezz has been named a Schwarzman Scholar, a highly selective program at China’s Tsinghua University modeled after Oxford’s Rhodes Scholarship. Scholars have all costs covered as they pursue a one-year master’s in global affairs in Beijing. The 2026-2027 cohort will include 150 students representing 40 countries and 83 universities from around the world.
Born in Dubai of Palestinian descent, Alezz graduated from Hopkins in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering. While at JHU, he served as president of the Muslim Student Association, where he promoted interfaith partnerships and advocated for institutional support for students’ religious needs. He also designed pacemaker training simulators and an automated food distribution system for food deserts and served as an EMT and community health worker in Baltimore. He credits this time with teaching him how to “think like an engineer,” allowing him to break down large problems to find evidence-based solutions.
“Hopkins gave me the freedom to move between engineering, medicine, policy, and community work, and that interdisciplinary culture played a major role in preparing me for opportunities like Schwarzman,” he says.
Alezz has also pursued service and research projects around the world, working in the Gambia, Uganda, and at the Thailand-Myanmar border.
“I saw how health outcomes are shaped not only by clinical care, but by policy, infrastructure, and governance,” he says. “Growing up in a family of Palestinian refugees shaped how I understand health, instability, and access to care. It instilled in me a desire to work in humanitarian and low-resource settings, particularly in the Middle East, while also strengthening health systems in underserved communities like Baltimore.”
After Tsinghua University, Alezz plans to attend medical school, where he will continue to combine his passions for medicine, engineering, and policy.
“I aspire to become a physician-engineer who can move fluidly between clinical care, systems design, and policy, addressing both immediate patient needs and the structural factors that determine long-term outcomes,” he says. “Schwarzman’s emphasis on global leadership and China’s rising role in global development and interdisciplinary problem-solving felt like a natural fit for the kind of physician-engineer I hope to become. Being named a Schwarzman Scholar is deeply humbling, and I feel both honored and excited to join a community committed to thoughtful, cross-cultural leadership.”
Students interested in applying to nationally competitive fellowships and grants should reach out to the Johns Hopkins National Fellowships Program. NFP guides students and alums through application processes for programs including the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, Schwarzman Scholarship, U.K./Ireland Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarship, Truman Scholarship, and other awards that require university endorsement or nomination. Applicants may also receive assistance with their materials for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the P.D. Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and many other awards.