UQ graduate wins Rhodes Scholarship
A recent experience of cancer in his close-knit family provided the inspiration for University of Queensland graduate Steven Suchting to pursue a Rhodes Scholarship researching the disease at Oxford University.
His determination was rewarded in early December when he was announced as one of three "Australia at Large" winners to take up scholarships at Oxford in October 2000.
These winners are selected from the runners-up for Rhodes scholarships in all states and territories.
He is the first UQ graduate to receive an Australia at Large award since Natasha Hendrick in 1993.
Mr Suchting, 23, the youngest of five children, will celebrate his achievement with some members of his family at a restaurant near their Forest Lake home. His father William is also a UQ graduate, receiving a Bachelor of Engineering from the University in 1949.
"It's a very strange feeling to win a Rhodes Scholarship, a mixture of relief and total elation," Mr Suchting said.
His three-year Doctor of Philosophy at Oxford will be based in the Department of Clinical Medicine and focus on signal transduction in cells, studies of fundamental interest for cancer research.
Mr Suchting will spend five months back-packing through Europe before taking up the Scholarship with the trip being his first ever overseas.
"The Rhodes Scholarship selection process has been very rigorous. I have been involved since September when I submitted my application for the Queensland award. My family has been very supportive despite my father undergoing treatment and operations for cancer," Mr Suchting said.
"His experience has made me even more determined to learn more about the disease through study at Oxford."
Mr Suchting graduated with a parallel Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Queensland in 1997, with majors in English and history for the BA and biochemistry for the BSc.
He was awarded first class honours in Science in 1998 and received a 1998 University Medal in the May ceremonies in 1999. He is a member of the Golden Key Honour Society.
He currently works as a research assistant at the Diabetes and Endocrinology Department at Princess Alexandra Hospital where he is investigating the relationship between obesity and diabetes.
A member of the University Tennis Club since 1994, Mr Suchting also keeps fit through a range of other activities including squash, golf and scuba-diving but gave into temptation on occasion while at UQ through his membership of the Chocolate Appreciation Society.
"I really enjoyed my years at the University of Queensland. My honours thesis' supervisors in my final year, the Biochemistry Department's Professor David Hume and Dr Ian Cassady, were a great influence on me," he said.
For more information, contact Steven Suchting (telephone 07 3372 9661 at home or 07 3240 5966 at work).
