The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation has named Dany Matar, a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis, an Astronaut Scholar.
The prestigious fellowship is for college juniors and seniors who are studying science, technology, engineering or mathematics with the intent of pursuing research or advancing their field upon completion of their final degree. Matar will receive up to $30,000 to attend medical school next year.
Matar is majoring in biochemistry and minoring in jazz music studies in Arts & Sciences. He has been investigating wound healing and soft-tissue regeneration in the Orgill Tissue Engineering Lab at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Currently, he is in Taiwan researching the biological efficacy of various traditional Chinese medicine practices. Matar also has worked as a medical assistant at the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan and is a medical interpreter for Arabic- and Spanish-speaking patients at Casa de Salud in St. Louis.
At Washington University, Matar is a volunteer tutor for Niños Cambios Puertas and a member of the Jazz Band and Jazz Combo.
