UVic microbiology student named a Rhodes Scholar

For Shaeleen Mihalynuk, winning one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious scholarships is still sinking in.

“I feel totally honoured and overjoyed,” the University of Victoria microbiology graduate said after being selected as a Rhodes Scholar for 2025.

Mihalynuk is one of 11 young Canadians and the only one from sa国际传媒 to win the scholarship, which provides two fully funded years of post-graduate studies at Oxford University.

She’s the third recipient from UVic in the last six years, and one of 13 overall from the university. Biochemistry graduate Rory Hills won the scholarship in 2019 and computational chemist Julia Levy became sa国际传媒’s first trans woman to win the two-year prize in 2023.

Three of the last four Rhodes Scholars from UVic have come from the department of biochemistry and microbiology, and all four, including 2014 winner Dylan Collins, have been from the faculty of science.

Since 1902, the Rhodes Scholarship has been awarded to young people for academic excellence as well as character, leadership and commitment to solving humanity’s challenges.

At UVic, Mihalynuk became involved in the fight against antimicrobial resistance, working as part of the PeptAID project to develop alternatives to antibiotics for poultry diseases using naturally occurring proteins, called antimicrobial peptides, that are produced by a number of species to fight microbial infections.

The university said Mihalynuk worked on both the chemistry and microbiology sides of the project, first working in Fraser Hof’s medicinal chemistry lab to assess the stability of different antimicrobial peptides, before moving to Caren Helbing’s biochemistry lab to test how the antimicrobial peptides affect the immune system.

Helbing, professor of microbiology and Mihalynuk’s honours supervisor, said it’s “rare to find someone who, while demanding so much of herself, has the empathy and capacity to raise others up from wherever they happen to be.”

“I am excited to see what amazing accomplishments she will make in the future.”

Mihalynuk also developed an idea for a new medical diagnostic device during her co-op terms at UVic, then used her experience to advocate for entrepreneurial co-op options that would provide science students with support.

A long-time dancer with the Veselka Ukrainian Dance Association, she helped create a semi-professional dance troupe, taught ballet classes for youth and Ukrainian dance classes for seniors, and served on the association’s board.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she has participated in benefit concerts, helped co-ordinate fundraising campaigns for grassroots organizations and volunteered to teach English to Ukrainian newcomers.

Mihalynuk, who will head to Oxford next fall, has expressed interest in studying global health, genomic medicine and translational health science, which aims to bridge the gap between advances in laboratory medical research and health care in clinical practice.

As a child, Mihalynuk spent time living in Vanuatu, where her mother, a physician, was working as part of a global health project.