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Senator-Elect El-Sayed's Oxford Peers Recall PhD and Lacrosse
Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan's senator-elect, spent his graduate years at the University of Oxford pursuing a medical PhD, captaining the university's lacrosse team and developing what former classmates describe as a fixation on coronation chicken sandwiches, according to interviews published by the Guardian on Nov. 8, 2026.
The Guardian's account draws on former Oxford peers and traces El-Sayed's path from a widely praised Rhodes Scholarship send-off at the University of Michigan in 2008 to his arrival in Britain the following year.
How did Michigan send him off as a Rhodes Scholar?
In late 2008, Mary Sue Coleman, then president of the University of Michigan, convened a ceremony inside the school's Fleming Administration Building to mark El-Sayed's selection as a Rhodes Scholar, the Guardian reported. Coleman told university leaders that El-Sayed was the "epitome of the engaged intellect," adding, "There is no doubt among anyone who crosses his path that he will achieve all he sets out to accomplish and more," according to the Guardian's account of the event.
Coleman also recalled an earlier endorsement, telling the room that former President Bill Clinton responded to a 2007 speech by El-Sayed by saying, "I wish every person in the world could have heard you speak today," the Guardian reported.
What did El-Sayed study once he reached Oxford?
El-Sayed arrived at Oxford in the autumn of 2009 to pursue a medical PhD, the Guardian reported. The outlet's account, based on interviews with his former classmates, does not specify his department or the length of his doctoral program, identifying him only as a "medical PhD student" at the time. He went on to earn a medical degree from Columbia University, according to a photograph cited in the Guardian's report showing him in Columbia graduation robes.
What do former Oxford lacrosse teammates say about him?
El-Sayed captained Oxford's lacrosse team, and student journalists covering the sport at the time described him as a "defensive master," according to the Guardian.
Elias Rothblatt, now 36 and working in fintech, played lacrosse alongside El-Sayed and told the Guardian that El-Sayed "always seemed very driven" and was a "very fierce competitor" on the field as well as a "wonderful" captain.
"He had a great sense of humour. He struck a really good mix of being friends with other people on the team but also setting the tone and helping lead the team and keep things, keeping serious." — Elias Rothblatt, former Oxford lacrosse teammate, to the Guardian
Rothblatt also described El-Sayed as "fun and friendly" away from competition. "It was always a pleasure to run into him. He was with his wife sometimes and she was wonderful too," Rothblatt told the Guardian.
What personal detail about his time at Oxford has surfaced?
The Guardian's reporting, citing additional coverage by the Times, also surfaced a food preference: El-Sayed reportedly had a fixation on coronation chicken, a British sandwich filling made of cold chicken in a curried mayonnaise dressing. Ricardo Chasebi, owner of a now-closed cafe in Oxford's covered market, recalled El-Sayed's regular order to the Times, according to the Guardian's account. The excerpt of that reporting made available does not detail the full specifics of the order beyond identifying it as a grilled coronation chicken sandwich.
Why is this record getting attention now?
The renewed interest in El-Sayed's time in Britain follows his election as Michigan's senator-elect, a result that has prompted closer examination of his academic and personal background between his undergraduate years at the University of Michigan and his later medical training. The Guardian's reporting frames the Oxford period — roughly 2009 onward — as the stretch in which former classmates say El-Sayed combined doctoral research with campus athletics and informal diplomacy on and off the lacrosse pitch. None of the sourced accounts in the Guardian's report quantify how many classmates were interviewed beyond the two named above, and the available excerpt does not detail what, if anything, El-Sayed has said publicly about the period himself.
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Questions
Did Abdul El-Sayed win a Rhodes Scholarship?
Yes. He was named a Rhodes Scholar in 2008 while a medical PhD student at the University of Michigan, and he traveled to the University of Oxford to begin his studies in the autumn of 2009, according to the Guardian.
What sport did El-Sayed play at Oxford?
He captained Oxford's lacrosse team; student journalists at the time called him a "defensive master," and former teammate Elias Rothblatt described him to the Guardian as a "very fierce competitor" and a "wonderful" captain.