When Angelin Mathew was a high school senior, pancreatic cancer claimed the life of her classmate and good friend. The pain of this loss reshaped Mathew’s perspective, inspiring an innovative academic career and a professional aspiration she had never envisioned.
“My whole college journey has really been about trying to live out this legacy and honor the friendship that we had,” says Mathew. “This really hasn’t felt like work. It’s been more like a mission to me.”
That mission will culminate in Mathew graduating from Yale College this week with a double degree in molecular biology and in humanities, where her focus has been on Buddhist-Christian comparative theology. She is also receiving a certificate in global health.
Exploring these diverse academic disciplines, Mathew has forged her own path.
“I’m interested in the spiritual and existential side of medical care,” she said, “especially as it deals with patients who have terminal illnesses and those interfacing with palliative care and facing end-of-life decisions.”
As a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University next year, Mathew will pursue a comparative theology degree in Buddhism and Christianity, along with a secondary degree in medical anthropology. “What I’m really interested in is how understanding those beliefs helps us manage end of life,” she said.
Mathew, who grew up in South Florida and spent summers in the Indian state of Kerala, entered Yale planning to major in cell biology, with medical school down the road. She’s still got her sights on medical school and a specialty in global palliative care.
At Oxford, she plans to work with the U.K. National Palliative Care Council to study the organization’s Dying Matters Week, a community effort that encourages discussions around mortality. “My dream is to try and create something similar in the U.S.,” she said.
It took time for Mathew, a humanities lover, to realize that her interests in science and religion could connect. It was one of her thesis advisors, Ben Doolittle, a pastor and medical doctor, who introduced her to the intersection of medicine and spirituality.
“He lives it every day,” she said. “I took his ‘Theology and Medicine’ class, which is co-taught by Mark Heim, who’s a theologian in Buddhist and Christian comparative theology. All I could think was: What are the odds? That is exactly what I’m interested in.”
While at Yale, Mathew founded the Existential Flourishing Network, a global initiative aimed at raising awareness about the role of religious belief in preparing for death. She traveled to Bhutan and India to launch the project, supported by several Yale grants.
Mathew has also undertaken research projects including an investigation into cancer treatment affordability and technologies that could improve the care of bedridden, terminally ill patients.
A member of Timothy Dwight College, Mathew helped organize a Model UN conference in Korea, and she volunteers with the HAVEN Free Clinic, a student-run clinic that helps provide members of the New Haven community with quality health care. On campus, she dances in Yale Kalaa, has served on the Yale College Council Health Policy team, and has been a member of Yale Students for Christ.
“Yale has given me exactly the resources that I needed to flourish,” she said. “With the connections between the humanities and STEM fields here, I’ve been able to pursue something every day that I think will ultimately help me serve people better, and that’s really important to me.”
