On March 4, 2023, the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell hosted the sixth-annual Long Island Brain Bee competition.

This buzzworthy event brought nearly 60 students from more than 25 Long Island and New York City high schools, such as Island Trees High School, Sachem High School East and The Brearley School, together to expose young scholars to the study of the brain and motivate early career interest in the fields of neuroscience research and clinical sciences.

“The Brain Bee is a great way to expose young students to the brain, what we know about it, and the many things we don’t know about it. It’s also a great way for them to learn about different ways to study or work with the brain,” said Vanessa Reddin, associate professor, Science Education and Brain Bee 2024 organizer. “Hopefully after participating in this fun experience, students can say they learned something they found interesting and had an experience that might inform some of their choices in the future.”

This year’s top three performers in the contest were revealed to be Melody Hong, MacArthur High School (first place), Stephanie Hsu, Jericho High School (second place), and Isabella Fong, Great Neck South High School (third place).

This is Hong’s second year in a row participating in the LI Brain Bee at the Zucker School of Medicine, an experience that benefitted her and helped her jump from third place last year to first place this year.

The LI Brain Bee serves as the inaugural stage in a nationwide competition for students to put their brains to the test and see just how much they know about – brains! Champions of regional events progress to the National Brain Bee Championship, vying for an opportunity to showcase their intellects globally at the International Brain Bee.

Comprising two rounds of evaluation, the LI Brain Bee features a multiple-choice exam based on “Brain Facts,” a publication from the Society for Neuroscience. Additionally, participants undergo a laboratory practical examination, engaging in hands-on lab demonstrations to discern anatomical structures and functions within authentic human brain specimens.

The Zucker School of Medicine also supports Brain Bee by offering contestants the opportunity to participate in interactive sessions in neuroradiology and decision-making, to take a deeper dive into how the brain works and how it is affected by disease.

Neurology resident and Zucker School of Medicine alum, Dr. Brian Emmert, Class of 2019, shared MRIs and CT scans of brains that have experienced trauma, strokes, and tumors, and students had to guess which brains were worse and suffered as a result of the diseases/conditions. Dr. Emily Barkley-Levenson, associate professor of Psychology at Hofstra University, introduced how the brain is involved in decision-making and how the brain is involved in topics like gambling and risk aversion.

It is sessions like these that continue to propel an unBEElievable understanding of the brain and its functions for these students, sustain their interest and forge a pathway for the future pursuit of a career in medicine and the neurosciences.

“To prepare for the Brain Bee, students brush up on brain facts, but we want them to take away more than just facts about the brain. It’s our hope that they will understand the applications of brain facts to real-world problems in healthcare,” explained Robert Hill, PhD, director, Structural Sciences and Anatomical Gift Program and associate professor of Science Education.

Dr. Hill also served as a 2024 Brain Bee organizer. “Participants make their first attempts at diagnosing strokes and tumors by interpreting MRI scans and also attend an interactive session on how the brain makes good (and bad!) decisions. Overall, it helps them take more away from the experience and gets them more interested in the field.”

When asked about how she prepared for the competition Hong said, “The competition was a lot of fun and overall, a very rewarding experience. As much as I love learning about biology from a textbook, it’s also nice to see what I’m learning about right in front of me.

The Brain Bee allows me to experience the best of both worlds,” explained Hong, who is currently a high school junior. When asked what she feels best prepared her for the competition, Hong revealed her secret to success was last year’s Brain Bee!

“My experience from last year definitely helped me this year as I felt a lot more prepared for what I was going to see on the exams and in the lab.”

The queen bee from this year’s hive of competitors, Melody Hong, will go head-to-head with other regional contest winners when they convene at the University of Central Florida for the National Brain Bee on April 20-21. 

As the champion of the LI Brain Bee at the Zucker School of Medicine, Hong will also get to participate in a summer internship opportunity sponsored by the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, where she will conduct research and complete a summer research project.

When asked about what she looks forward to studying this summer, Hong revealed she has a personal motivation inspiring her research focus. “My paternal grandmother has Parkinson’s disease and because of that, I’ve been interested in conducting an independent project using computational neuroscience or bioinformatics focusing on Parkinson’s. I’d really like to pursue this with the resources at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research.”

Special thanks to the 2024 LI Brain Bee organizers, Dr. Reddin, Dr. Hill, Zucker School of Medicine students, and physicians and neuropsychology residents from Northwell Health for assisting with competition activities.

A big thanks also goes to Northwell Health departments of Family Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Cardiology, Radiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology for supporting and helping to sponsor the LI Brain Bee.

Click here to see photos from this year’s LI Brain Bee. To see press coverage of this year’s event, click here. For more information about the LI Brain Bee and the Zucker School of Medicine, click here.