IHDD Student Researcher Named 2026 Rhodes Scholar

IHDD Student Researcher Named 2026 Rhodes Scholar

University of Washington senior Shubham Bansal, an IHDD student researcher, has been named a 2026 Rhodes Scholar. Bansal is a neuroscience major whose research spans autism, neurodevelopment, and public health.

Bansal has shared his autism-focused research at 2024 IHDD Research Day and contributes to projects in the Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development. His studies explore connections between facial processing, social responsiveness and the social experiences of autistic youth.

His broader research includes work at the Benaroya Research Institute, where he studies T-cell receptor data related to autoimmune conditions, and at Sara Jane Webb’s lab at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, where he analyzes EEG patterns related to attention and emotional regulation. Support from UW programs such as the Population Health Initiative and Mary Gates Research Scholarships has helped him advance this work and present at national and international conferences.

Bansal is also the founder and director of Narcare, a nonprofit that distributes life-saving medication, trains community responders and increases access to overdose prevention resources.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Bansal plans to pursue graduate study at the University of Oxford and continue building evidence-based approaches to substance use treatment and care.

Read the full story on Washington.edu