University of Queensland medical student, charity founder and elite mountain runner Jeremy Hunt has been announced as Queensland’s 2024 Rhodes Scholar.
Queensland Governor The Honourable Dr Jeannette Young AC PSM, who chairs Queensland’s Rhodes selection panel, revealed the state’s newest recipient of the world’s oldest and most prestigious international scholarship program this afternoon at Government House in Brisbane.
Mr Hunt completed a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science/Biomedical Science) at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2019 and is currently in his final year of a Doctor of Medicine at UQ.
He is the founder and CEO of the VacSeen Project, a registered charity which provides free pop-up vaccination clinics and health services for people experiencing homelessness and other at-risk groups. [Watch his TEDxUQ talk below on how he founded the charity with friends.]
In recognition of the impact of The VacSeen Project’s work, he was named the 2022 Brisbane Young Citizen of the Year and was also a finalist in 2023 Queensland Young Australian of the Year awards.
Mr Hunt will use his Rhodes Scholarship to study public policy and applied digital health at the University of Oxford next year.
He has a strong interest in digital health and how electronic medical records can be used to reduce medication errors and improve patient care, while still carefully maintaining patient data privacy.
“In my view, poor health limits the innate potential that exists within every person,” Mr Hunt said.
“The opportunity that digital health policy presents to unlock that potential, to affect individual lives deeply and positively, is what makes me so impassioned to drive change.
“Just as there is the chance to harness technology to improve patient outcomes in Australia, there is an opportunity to reduce worldwide health disparity, which truly excites me.
“For instance, AI-enabled radiology platforms that improve diagnostic accuracy can be applied to much greater effect in regions with shortages of radiologists, such as India, compared to Australia.”
Mr Hunt is an elite level trail and mountain runner and member of the UQ Elite Athlete Program.
He competed in the World Athletics World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Austria this year, where he placed 60th and topped the Australian entrants.
Mr Hunt’s Rhodes Scholar studies in Oxford will be his second time in England as a student. He also completed an exchange semester in advanced biomedical science at University College London in 2018.
During his UQ studies he has received many awards, including the 2023 Frazer Family Scholarship for Medicine (established to empower and enable future medical professionals to make a lasting impact on society) and the Eric W Peet Memorial Prize for Medical Ethics.
In addition to his medical placements, he also worked as a research associate with the Grattan Institute’s health program from 2021 to 2023.
Mr Hunt graduated with an OP1 from Brisbane Grammar School in 2016, where he was school captain and cross country captain.
About the Rhodes Scholarships
QUT administers the Queensland Rhodes Scholarship on behalf of all Queensland universities.
Rhodes Scholarships are postgraduate awards that started in 1903 under the will of the late Cecil John Rhodes. This prestigious award recognises outstanding all-round students and enables them to study at the University of Oxford.
More than 100 scholars are selected each year from countries such as Australia, Bermuda, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica and the Commonwealth Caribbean, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Southern Africa (including South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Swaziland), United Arab Emirates, United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The qualities Cecil Rhodes set out for those seeking Rhodes Scholarships include: academic and intellectual excellence; integrity of character; respect for fellow beings; and a capacity for leadership.
More than 500 Australian Rhodes Scholars have been selected since the scheme began.
A Rhodes Scholarship covers all University and College fees, a personal stipend and return airfare.
Pictured at top: Queensland Governor Dr Jeannette Young with the state's 2024 Rhodes Scholar, Jeremy Hunt, at Government House.
Media contacts:
QUT Media: media@qut.edu.au or 0407 585 901 (after hours)
UQ communications: communications@uq.edu.au or 0429 056 139
Media note: QUT administers the Queensland Rhodes Scholarship on behalf of the tertiary sector. The 2024 Rhodes Scholar is a University of Queensland graduate.
