Smithtown HS East Science Student Honored By Suffolk Legislature

ST. JAMES, NY — Holy Mary Zaher, a student of Smithtown High School East, was recognized by the Suffolk County Legislature on Tuesday after she was recently named a Regeneron scholar, the Smithtown School District announced.

Zaher's research project was "The Correlation Between Peroxisome Levels and Short-Term Memory Loss in a PINK1-/- Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease."

"This is all in the name of science," she said at the podium. "All in the name of helping other people and serving other people who unfortunately, not because they did anything wrong, get these debilitating diseases and I feel like it's our responsibility if we're blessed with good health that we should do what we can to help others."

Smithtown Central School District Superintendent Dr. Mark Secaur, High School East Principal Robert Rose, Science Research Coordinator Maria Zeitlin and Director of Science Dr. Stephanie O’Brien came to support Zaher, as did her mother and brother.