Chapel Hill resident and Duke University student Ariel Kantor was named a Rhodes Scholar over the weekend – one of only 32 Rhodes Scholars nationwide.

Kantor is one of three Duke students this year to earn the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which covers tuition, fees, transportation and expenses for American students to continue their studies at Oxford University in England.

A total of 880 students applied for the scholarship in 2018. Duke officials say this is only the second time the university has had three Rhodes Scholars in a single year.

Duke University released the following statement on Ariel Kantor:

Working toward a career in gene engineering and translational medicine, Kantor pursued a self-designed major at Duke that focused on the intersection of bioengineering, policy and the business of biotechnology. Under the supervision of professor Susanne Haga in the Duke Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine, Kantor’s research for his senior thesis examined developing technology-based therapies for orphan diseases. His work has resulted in four publications, including one in which he is listed as first author.

Kantor began exploring the applications of gene therapy as a high school student working at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. As an undergraduate at Duke, he continued gene engineering research in the lab of professor Charlie Gersbach, a leader in genome editing using Crispr/Cas9 technology.

Motivated by his family’s emigration experience from Israel and Eastern Europe, Kantor also works on human rights and violence prevention. His work with the Duke Human Rights Center includes hosting programming that sheds light on human rights violations and facilitating dialogue around issues of religion and violence.

Kantor also participates in Special Olympics (SPO), and tutors math and science students at Durham’s Emily K Center. Kantor said the medical challenges that his SPO teammates face have motivated him to pursue translational medicine and develop therapies for rare diseases.

At Oxford, Kantor plans to study molecular medicine and gene therapy to develop therapies for the treatment of orphan diseases using novel epigenetic technologies.

“I cannot articulate how honored and humbled to have been selected as a Rhodes Scholar,” Kantor said. “I am so thankful for my family, friends, mentors, advisers and everyone who made this possible.”

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