A 2017 graduate of the Wharton School, Theodore Caputi has won a prestigious Marshall Scholarship to study at any university in the United Kingdom. He is the 15th Marshall Scholar from Penn.
Originally from Upper Makefield, Pa., through the Marshall, Caputi has the ability to either study for a DPhil in social interventions at Oxford University, or a Ph.D. in health sciences at the University of York.
Caputi received guidance and assistance during the application process from the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships at Penn through its remote advising initiative. He lives in Cambridge, Mass., and works at Harvard University’s Department of Economics. He competed for the Marshall in its Boston region.
As an undergraduate, Caputi earned a degree in economics with a concentration in finance and a minor in math. He founded the Leadership Training Institute and Penn Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors. He also conducted research on the ramifications of the legalization of marijuana, authoring articles and policy briefs on the Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addition Equity Acts. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Penn.
He was the youngest person and first undergraduate to be named a policy fellow at the University of Florida Drug Policy Institute, and interned at the White House Executive Office of the President under President Obama, conducting research with the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
As a 2018 Mitchell Scholar, he graduated with a master’s in public health from University College Cork.
In addition, Caputi has served on local, state, and federal boards designed to address substance use, including the Drug Free America Foundation National Advisory Board, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Prevention Alliance Board of Directors, and Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission Board of Directors, where he has served as vice chair and treasurer.
Established by the British government in 1953, Marshall Scholarships are offered to as many as 40 people each year, five for each of the eight regions of the United States.
The Scholarship can be used for two years and, in some cases, it can be renewed for a third year.
