Brian Zhou ('24) Awarded Hoopes Prize

The Department of Anthropology at Harvard University is pleased to share that Brian Zhou (’24) has been awarded a Hoopes Prize.

Brian Zhou is a senior in Quincy studying anthropology with a secondary in global health/health policy. Brian is interested in global mental health and cultural psychiatry, following their thesis research and experiences in community-based, culturally-informed psychological treatment for depression with Dr. Vikram Patel’s lab and Sangath. In their time at Harvard, Brian has also been involved in Y2Y homeless shelter, Indigo Peer Counseling, First-year Outdoor Program, Asian American Dance Troupe, and the Harvard Mountaineering Club!

Brian’s thesis, titled “Cultivating Care, Challenging Capital: An Ethnography of Peer Counseling at Harvard” and advised by Professor Arthur Kleinman, was the “first to investigate the history, experiences, and cultural beliefs of Harvard’s peer counselors, despite their establishment in 1971. Drawing on interviews, archival documents, and the researcher's own counseling experiences, the study examines the therapeutic and ethical implications of conscripting students to care for one another.”

Brian would like to thank their advisors, Professor Kleinman and Dr. Lewis, for their faith and unwavering support. Brian’s heart is forever with all the peer counselors and their supervisors who create a culture of empathy on campus. Finally, Brian’s family taught them to provide care and love, which is embodied in this thesis.

The Hoopes Prize provides undergraduate prizes to be given for the purpose of “promoting, improving, and enhancing the quality of education . . . in literary, artistic, musical, scientific, historical, or other academic subjects made part of the College curriculum under [f]aculty supervision and instruction, particularly by recognizing, promoting, honoring, and rewarding excellence in the work of undergraduates and their capabilities and skills in any subject, projects of research in science or the humanities, or in specific written work of the students under the instruction or supervision of the [f]aculty.”

To learn more about the Hoopes Prize, visit the Prize Office page here.