Clara Tandar ’25 MD’29 was awarded a 2026 Marshall Scholarship, the British government announced on Tuesday. The scholarship funds one to three years of post-graduate study in any academic discipline at any university in the United Kingdom.
Tandar was one of just 43 scholarship winners chosen from over 1,000 applicants.
A student in the Program in Liberal Medical Education, Tandar is currently studying medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School. She graduated from the College with a double concentration in bioengineering and international and public affairs in 2025. In 2024, Tandar was named a Barry Goldwater Scholar — an award for college students studying the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.
Tandar is currently a member of Warren Alpert’s class of 2029, but said she will take a leave of absence from Warren Alpert to pursue her education in the U.K. She plans to return to Warren Alpert after completing her master’s studies.
Through her Marshall Scholarship, Tandar will complete a year-long master’s degree in precision medicine at the University of Manchester, beginning in fall 2026. The program includes 35 weeks of research focused on developing medical care tailored to individuals’ genetics and lifestyles. She has not yet finalized her second-year plans, but said she plans to study bioengineering.
“My overall goals with my career is to take an interdisciplinary approach to drug development and drug discovery that is really patient centered,” she said in an interview with The Herald. “My focus is combining the biological sciences, clinical sciences and engineering principles to accelerate drug delivery.”
According to Tandar, the University of Manchester provides the interdisciplinary approach she is looking for, noting their “collaborations between academic centers and industry partners” as well as their robust cancer research center.
“Taking that time off (from medical school) can be scary in some ways, but it’s going to enrich my experience as a physician,” she said. “It’s going to improve the way that I treat patients, and it’s a really great opportunity to expand my knowledge base and continue to learn.”
Since her first year at Brown, Tandar has worked at the Darling Lab, where she has researched hydrogel microparticles and their use in diagnostic and drug delivery processes. She said that Eric Darling, the lab’s director and an associate professor of medical science, engineering and orthopaedics, “has been absolutely so supportive” throughout her time at Brown.
“Clara has been a truly outstanding member of our research group,” Darling wrote in an email to The Herald.
“Not only does she show fantastic instincts as a scientist, but she combines that with a work ethic that is truly impressive,” he wrote. “Clara has a passion for learning and discovery, and I am so happy to see all her hard work be recognized through the Marshall Scholarship.”
Tandar also serves as a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Huntsman Cancer Institute. As an undergraduate, Tandar was also involved in the Brown Initiative for Policy, where she served as the Vice President of Development. She credited Brown’s Open Curriculum for allowing her to take classes across a range of departments and pursue her interests outside of the medical field.
“Even if a class doesn’t seem the most directly pertinent to my studies or my long-term career goals, it still has enriched and enhanced the way I think about science, the way I think about the world and the type of impact I want my research to make for patients,” she said.
Emily Feil is a senior staff writer covering staff and student labor. She is a freshman from Long Beach, NY and plans to study economics and English. In her free time, she can be found watching bad TV and reading good books.
