Rhodes Scholar blends bioengineering and sociology
Nkaziewoh Nchinda-Pungong wants to make trailblazing treatments accessible for the underserved
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When Nkaziewoh Nchinda-Pungong was in middle school, he watched a TED talk during which a surgeon 3D-printed a kidney on stage. Spellbound, he decided then and there to become a bioengineer.
A decade later, Nchinda-Pungong is well on his way. A biomedical engineering concentrator at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a 2021 Rhodes Scholar, he is poised to graduate in the spring and fulfill that long-held ambition.
“Biology and chemistry are interesting in themselves, and it is fascinating to learn how the human body works. But with bioengineering, you are actually able to change it,” he said. “You may hear about heart disease and think about it as an abstract problem. Bioengineering turns that into something very specific, like an engineered heart valve, that c