Local Student Wins “Best Brain” at Regional Round of National Brain Bee Competition

The Northeast Ohio region has its new “Best Brain” after Aashi Anne took home first place at the 2019 Brain Bee, an annual neurobiology academic contest for high school students. Anne, a sophomore at Mayfield High School (center of photo, with Dana Peterson, Ph.D., to her left and Jeffrey Wenstrup, Ph.D., to her right), will now advance to the National Brain Bee competition to be held in Baltimore this spring.

Students across Northeast Ohio spent months preparing for the competition and attending monthly tutoring sessions held by Dr. Peterson, associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology, who is the event organizer for the NEOMED Brain Bee. They learn the basics of neuroscience and prepare to offer a rationale to answer questions such as, “Why do humans require sleep?” “What causes pain and why is it necessary?” and “How do eyes see and communicate that information to the brain?”

Congratulations to the students who finished in the top three at the 2019 NEOMED Brain Bee:

• 1st place: Aashi Anne, Mayfield High School
• 2nd place: Lipika Narisetti, Hilliard Darby High School
• 3rd place (tie): Andrew Huang, Western Reserve Academy, and Sruthi Parthasarathy, Dublin Jerome High School