Two from Johns Hopkins named Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University

Johns Hopkins student Sean Lee and alum Toby Mao were selected to join the 8th cohort of Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University.

Lee and Mao are among 84 scholars from 25 countries who will pursue degrees in 46 graduate programs across all seven graduate schools at Stanford, where they will participate in multidisciplinary dialogue and leadership training. Scholars receive a fellowship for up to three years of tuition, a stipend for living and academic expenses, and a travel stipend for one annual trip to and from Stanford.

Bum Seok "Sean" Lee, from Seoul, South Korea, will pursue an MD at Stanford School of Medicine after graduating from Johns Hopkins University later this month with a bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology. Lee strives to improve patients' lives by translating discoveries in genetics, glycobiology, and immunotherapy into safer and more effective cancer treatments. As an undergraduate, he conducted cancer research at the Johns Hopkins Ludwig Center under the mentorship of Suman Paul, Nicolas Wyhs, Bert Vogelstein, and Kenneth Kinzler. Lee's contributions have been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature and eLife. Beyond the sciences, Lee is passionate about mentoring youth, and he led efforts to create unique educational opportunities for Baltimore high school students. Lee is an American Association for Cancer Research Undergraduate Scholar.

Yuncong Toby Mao, from Baltimore, Maryland, is an MD candidate at Stanford School of Medicine. He earned a bachelor of science degree in neuroscience with a concentration in computational neuroscience from Johns Hopkins in 2023. Motivated by the opioid epidemic in his community, he collaborated with a substance misuse prevention nonprofit and helped to design educational programs in middle and high school health classes. In college, Mao conducted research to develop digital twin models to improve the precision and affordability of cardiac care. He also founded GlioNet, an AI-driven platform for glioblastoma prognostication, collaborating with neurosurgeons and Johns Hopkins Tech Venture. As a Fulbright research scholar in Germany, he worked with refugees who lacked access to cardiac mapping systems and created a deep learning algorithm that used electrocardiograms as a low-cost tool to support clinical decision-making. He was also a visiting master's student studying robust machine learning at the University of Cologne.

To learn more about applying for the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship and other awards and fellowships, visit the university's National Fellowship Program website.