BRUNSWICK – A 21-year-old woman from Maine who hopes to become both an anthropologist and a physician was one of 32 American college students named Sunday as prestigious Rhodes scholars.

Margaret Hayden of Brunswick is a senior at Stanford University in California, where she majors in human biology. She begins her two-year program at Oxford University in England next October, studying medical anthropology.

“I’m interested in issues of mental illness and homelessness and how you address them from both the perspective of a doctor and from the large social factors that play into these situations,” she said Sunday from Brunswick, where she’s spending the holidays.

Hayden grew up in Brunswick and graduated in 2009 from Brunswick High School, where she was a three-sport athlete and was active in many volunteer causes, including Safe Passage, the Yarmouth-based nonprofit working to help children and families living near a garbage dump in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

At Stanford, Hayden has published two papers and wrote her honors thesis on the ethical implications of biological conceptions of mental illness and personhood. She also participates on the varsity squash and sailing teams.

Rhodes scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes and have a value of about $50,000 per year.

Hayden was one of 838 applicants from 302 colleges and universities.

The American students will join an international group of scholars selected from 14 other jurisdictions around the world. About 80 scholars are selected each year.