Kennedy H.S. senior honored for eating-disorder research

Few would describe the study of teenage eating disorders as a “passion,” but that’s precisely how Kennedy High School senior Rachel Mashal sees it.

“I’m a teenage girl,” said the 17-year-old. “I see firsthand what it’s like for my generation being subjected to beauty ideals, seeing girls in my grade trying to live up to beauty standards. ... They start out dieting, and all of sudden it turns into an eating disorder.”

In the summer between her sophomore and junior years, Mashal, a participant in Kennedy’s Authentic Science Research Program, undertook a 500-hour study of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa that examined why food repulses certain people.

She was asked to present her work at the Long Island Psychology Fair last spring. And then a huge — and delightful — surprise came: She was invited to present her paper, “Food Specific Intolerance of Uncertainty and Eating Disordered Behaviors in a Non-clinical Sample,” at the International Conference on Eating Disorders, a three-day symposium hosted by the Academy for Eating Disorders in Boston.

Participants came from as far away as Japan. She was the only high school student to present.

“There were people from all over the world,” Mashal said. “It was amazing.”
For her accomplishments in eating-disorder research, Mashal was selected in September as one of only five New York student recipients of the prestigious Rising Scientist Award, given by the nonprofit Child Mind Institute in Manhattan, which is associated with the National Institute of Mental Health.

Barbi Frank, a Kennedy biology teacher and Mashal’s research adviser, nominated her for the honor. Without doubt, Mashal was surprised. “I was shocked,” she said. “I saw the email. I almost didn’t open it. I thought it was spam.”