He said he was asked everything in his final interview from how communism affected public health to whether the 1967 Arab-Israeli War was an “accident.”

Fiona Rose, a University alum who won the Rhodes Scholarship in 1998, started helping El-Sayed early this year with his application preparation, which included editing at least seven drafts of his 1,000 word personal statement.

“He’s wonderful. He’s smart, he’s personable, he’s sincere, he cares a lot about other people,” she said. “It couldn’t happen to a better person.”

She said the scholarship will help him gain a more international perspective in his research, while allowing him access to a host of people and resources that would otherwise be unavailable to him.

More than 1,500 students each year seek their institution’s endorsement for the Rhodes Scholarship. This year, 209 applicants from 107 colleges and universities reached the final stage of the competition.

El-Sayed also won the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, which sponsors education in the United Kingdom. But he said he will forego the Marshall because it doesn’t fund the program he wants.

He said he’s excited to study at such a “historic” university and to work with people who have similar research goals in the public health field.

“It’s kind of surreal still, but at the same time, I think it’s an awesome opportunity to represent my state, my country and other Muslim Americans in my situation,” he said.

His wife Sarah said that after he decided to apply, they both were committed to helping him work toward the award.

“Both of us had to go into it 100 percent sure that this is what we want to do,” she said. “He was really pumped up and ready to go.”

She said that while there are many talented people, El-Sayed’s dedication and drive set him apart from his peers.

“One thing you know, if you know Abdul, is that he’s an extremely, extremely passionate person,” she said. “He doesn’t do anything halfway.”

She said El-Sayed is “extremely idealistic, which some people might take as a bad thing, but you don’t really change the world if you don’t have the hope that you can do it in the first place.”

She relayed a story of his high school chemistry teacher telling him that he wasn’t smart enough to learn chemistry. When she met him, he was teaching organic chemistry at the University.

“If someone tells him he can’t do something, that means he’s going to put all of his effort into trying to do it,” she said.

Along with winning the award, El-Sayed has led a medical mission to Peru and co-founded Healing at Home, which raises money for a local health clinic.

Though he got a chance to celebrate with his family Sunday, El-Sayed doesn’t have much time to slow down.

“I’ve got a huge exam on Monday, so hopefully I can find some time to study and pass my exam and enjoy my vacation,” he said.