Blair Junior Earns Gold Medal in National Biology Competition

Kian Dhawan, a rising junior at Montgomery Blair High School, earned a gold medal in the 2025 USA Biolympiad (USABO) National Finals at Harvard University earlier this summer. His team placed first in the 2025 national championship.

This year, nearly 11,000 students from 741 schools, 47 states and 36 international schools registered in the nationwide high school biology competition.

During national finals, students participated in intensive theoretical and practical tutorials. The high school students studied with leading U.S. biologists in the fields of cellular and molecular biology, plant anatomy and physiology, animal anatomy and physiology, genetics and evolution, ecology, ethology and biosystematics.

Kian and his team are representing the U.S. at the 36th International Biology Olympiad, a worldwide competition involving student teams from more than 80 countries. It is being hosted this month in the Philippines.

Last year, Kian earned a silver medal at the USABO National Finals held at Marymount University in Virginia. A three-time AIME Qualifier and USA National Chemical Olympiad High Honors recipient, Kian hopes to pursue a biochemistry career. He is conducting research in cancer biology this summer at the University of Maryland.

Left to right: Eric Liu (Ward Melville High School, NY), Cloris Shi (Troy High School, CA), Ferris Li (Northwood High School, CA) and Kian Dhawan (Montgomery Blair High School, MD)