BHCC Alumna Named American Rhodes Scholar
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
On Saturday, November 18, Elliot F. Gerson, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, announced the names of 32 Americans chosen as Rhodes Scholars. Bunker Hill Community College alumna Tania N. Fabo of Saugus, Massachusetts, received the prestigious award to study how racism shapes the health of African Americans when housing segregation forces them to live in areas with limited access to medical care.
Born in Germany to Cameroonian parents, Fabo’s family immigrated to the United States when she was seven years old. Her mother, now a nurse, worked as a scientific researcher at Harvard. Inspired by the Harvard Lab at which her mother worked, Fabo enrolled in science courses at BHCC when she was a sophomore in high school.
Now a Harvard College senior, Fabo is studying human development and regenerative biology with the goal of becoming a cancer researcher. She is president of the Harvard Society of Black Scientists and Engineers and organized the school’s first-ever Black Health Matters Conference, which brought together experts and students in health, law, public policy and other fields to discuss African-American health.
The Rhodes Scholarship will allow Fabo to complete the M.Sc. by research in Oncology at Oxford University in England beginning October 2019.