KU News Release

KU senior wins Oxford-Cambridge Scholarship for biomedical research

Stephanie Ann Hill

LAWRENCE — Stephanie Ann Hill, a senior from Shawnee planning a career in cancer research, is the first University of Kansas student to win a prestigious National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge Scholarship.

About 16 scholarships will be awarded nationwide this month by the NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program, established in 2001.

The scholarship provides full financial support for students to pursue doctoral degrees, work with a mentor and conduct biomedical research for two years at either Oxford University or Cambridge University, both in England, followed by two years at the NIH in Bethesda, Md. Traditional doctoral programs may require seven or more years to complete a degree. The unique four-year NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program is designed to prepare a new generation of top biomedical researchers better equipped to investigate human diseases and develop new treatments and cures.

Hill was a 2007 Goldwater scholar and is majoring in chemistry and biochemistry. She has been working with KU researchers on the development of anticancer agents. She will graduate in May and plans to study at Cambridge University. She is the daughter of Douglas and Mary Hill and a graduate of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.

“Our campus community and Kansans across the state can take pride in Stephanie Hill’s selection for this highly competitive scholarship for biomedical research,” said Chancellor Robert Hemenway. “It is a richly deserved honor for an outstanding student who has demonstrated an impressive dedication to achieving the best in the classroom and in the research lab.”

For the past three years, Hill has worked in the lab of Brian S. J. Blagg, associate professor of medicinal chemistry, whose research includes the development of anticancer agents. Her contributions to recent findings by Blagg’s team earned Hill the distinction as second author of an article submitted to the Journal of Organic Chemistry. She will also be an author of a manuscript that will be submitted this year for publication.

“It is extraordinary for an undergraduate to earn two publications in three years,” Blagg said of Hill’s work.

Hill has received three Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence scholarships and presented posters at the Kansas IDeA seminar and at the KU Research Experience for Undergraduates. This spring, she placed second in oral presentations at the Kansas IDeA seminar for her research “Synthesis and Evaluation of Hsp90 Inhibitors That Contain the 1,4-naphthoquinone Scaffold.”

During commencement, Hill will be recognized as a winner of a Class of 1913 award for outstanding scholarship and promise of usefulness to society. The award is one of six annual student awards given by the chancellor in recognition of academic and campus leadership. Last fall, Hill was a regional finalist in the Rhodes scholarship competition. She is a National Merit Scholar, a Chancellors Club Scholar and a Kansas Governor’s Scholar. Beyond her academic pursuits, Hill is an accomplished violinist. She is a member of the KU Symphony Orchestra and was a concertmaster with the Kansas City Youth Symphony.

The NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program enrolls about 80 scholars, including those selected this spring. Hill was one of 52 students interviewed from a pool of more than 200 applicants. A complete list of winners will be announced April 15 at oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/.

The scholarship program is one of the NIH’s Graduate Partnerships Program offerings.

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