Sunday, March 23, 2025
Elmont Memorial High School senior Aafia Ahmed has always loved science. As a first-generation immigrant from Pakistan, and among the only members of her family to enter the science field, her family has supported long nights of research and regular commutes to her internship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
In January, after spending countless hours of the past two years conducting doctorate-level research in the college’s lab, Aafia was named a 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholar.
Beginning in eighth grade, Aafia recalled, she joined the science research program at her school and began learning how to conduct scientific research and experiments. And, she said, she was encouraged to make decisions on what she wanted to study.
Michelle Flannory, who is an Elmont science research coordinator and teaches the science research program at the high school, said when students enter their freshman year of high school, they are then enrolled in a curriculum that prepares them to conduct projects specifically for submission to the Regeneron competition.
Flannory said Aafia had to do a lot of her research virtually at first because she entered high school during the pandemic. But, she said, Aafia rose to the challenge.
She soon began research on schizophrenia during her freshman year, Aafia said, studying the neurological components of the illness.
In 2023, she applied, and was accepted, to the Einstein-Montefiore Summer High School Research Program, where she pivoted to a new science research project beginning her junior year. She was matched with a mentor from the college, Dr. Beatriz Villahoz, who began advising her on science research.
When Aafia began the five-week internship which began in July and ended in August she commuted to the lab five days a week, staying for six to seven hours a day. The first two weeks were intensive training, she said, where she practiced how to study cell cultures and use pipettes.
After all the training, it was time for her to start her own project. She said the toughest part was finding something in which she was genuinely interested.
Villahoz, who worked as a staff scientist at the college for 10 years, said she eventually told Aafia about a project they were conducting on methylmercury toxicity. This type of toxicity is caused by consumption of fish or exposure to environmental factors, such as volcanic activity.
Once Aafia decided to pursue the project, she hit the ground running.
On an average day, Aafia said, she would spend at least 43 minutes conducting her research and experiments during class, which is part of the school’s science research curriculum. However, she often worked on research after school, as well.
Aafia said she conducted six months of experimentation, along with months of data analysis. During this time, she stayed in contact with Villahoz, who was available to answer questions.
Villahoz said from the moment Aafia walked through the college’s door in 2023, she steadily increased her time and dedication to the project. She said Aafia was helpful and attentive, asking questions and taking the time to listen. “She showed that she was having fun,” she said. “She was dedicated. She worked hard.”
The intention of the research, Aafia said, was to inform manufacturers of therapeutics to target specific cell pathways to treat methylmercury toxicity.
By the end of her data analysis, Aafia prepared a paper detailing findings from her research and experimentation. And, Flannory added, Aafia’s research is currently being peer reviewed to be published in a scientific journal.
In November of her senior year, Aafia was ready to submit her materials for Regeneron. She said Flannory assisted her search in finding other conferences to present her research, as well.
She was eventually accepted into Bio Conference 2024, which is sponsored through The American Society for Cell Biology, and presented her research in San Diego to professional biologists in December.
In January, the Regeneron Scholars were announced. Only 300 students nationwide would be named as semifinalists, and Aafia said tensions were high.
She was anxiously waiting to hear the results. Finally, when her teacher informed her she was a semifinalist, she was in shock.
“It definitely didn’t feel real,” she said. “I had to actually see my name on the screen to actually realize that I got Regeneron Scholar. I still cannot believe it.”
Everything Aafia did that led up to this moment the long hours at the lab, the months of research and experimentation had finally paid off.
She was awarded $2,000, with an additional $2,000 awarded to the school, and was honored at the school district’s January board meeting for her accomplishments.
“In the way that she works,” Villahoz said, “the ideas, the motivation, and to be a collaborative person with other members in the lab I think, if she wants, she can be very successful.”
Flannory said Aafia has always pursued work at an extremely high level and has grown a lot since the beginning of the program.
“She’s already a little scientist,” she said. “She’s basically a PhD student.”
Her biggest strength, Aafia said, is keeping an open mind and opening herself up to whatever opportunities are presented to her. If she closed herself off to different aspects of science research, she said, she wouldn’t have accomplished half of what she did.
“I am super proud of myself,” she said. “I didn’t think any of this would happen.”
Aafia will be attending the University of Pennsylvania this fall on a full scholarship, and she hopes to get into the pre-med program.
