NE Ohio man selected as a Rhodes Scholar for 2013

Associated Press
Boston.com
Canton, OH

A 21-year-old man from northeast Ohio who wants to become a physician and also work in the area of health policy is one of 32 American students named Sunday as Rhodes Scholars for 2013.

Micah Johnson, of Canton, was selected Saturday for the award that pays all expenses for up to four years of study at Oxford University in England. A 2009 graduate and valedictorian of Jackson High School near Canton, Johnson is a senior at Yale University in Connecticut. He is majoring in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and psychology with a neuroscience concentration.

Johnson, whose academic focus has been on brain disorders, has done research on Parkinson’s disease. He worked in Ghana to design and develop a plan to improve mental health care and founded a Yale program assisting public health in Latin America.

‘‘I'm passionate about global health issues,’’ said Johnson in a telephone interview Sunday from New Haven, Conn.

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