Events With Impact

Bipartisan Policy Council Event - Advancing Federal Nutrition Research

July 15, 2020

Panelists for the event:

› Tracey Brown, CEO of the American Diabetes Association
› Chris Ferzli, Director Global Corporate Affairs, Ocean Spray Inc.
› Dr. William Li, author of Eat to Beat Disease and CEO of the Angiogenesis Foundation
› Francesca Weaks, MS, MCHES, DrPH(c), Health Policy & Research Manager, NAACP

Featuring remarks from:

› Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
› Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)
› Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D. Dean and Jean Mayer Professor at Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University
› Scott H. Hutchins, Ph.D. Deputy Under Secretary Research, Education and Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Supported by The Rockefeller Foundation

Feed the Future Webinar Series

Throughout 2020-2021

Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition invited everyone to join them for a webinar series that showcased critical research findings from a decade of work on the project, hosted at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. During each webinar, panelists from across the globe presented findings from their research, discussed policy implications of these findings, discussed what needs to be done to better link research to practice, and identified research gaps for future consideration. The Innovation Lab for Nutrition co-hosted these webinars with USAID Advancing Nutrition every month through 2020 and 2021.

ChildObesity 180 + DISC Viz-A-Thon

January 8-15, 2021

poster in bright blue advertising the viz-a-thon

In January, Tufts University leveraged its deep bench of expertise in both community health and data visualization to host VizAthon: Disrupting Childhood Obesity. Organized by ChildObesity180, a research center at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and by Tufts’ Data Intensive Studies Center (DISC), the VizAthon invited Tufts students from across the university to find new ways to represent and communicate science and data on childhood obesity.

“Our students are unbelievable. When we were with the judges as they watched all of the presentations and deliberated, I thought, ‘Wow, we’re in good hands. The future is bright.’ ” – New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition, Professor Christina Economos

2021 Research and Data Symposium for Food and Nutrition

March 1-4, 2021

This year’s symposium marked 14 years of student-run conferences focused on the future of food, nutrition, and data. This year’s events and presentations were centered on the theme of Translating Nutrition Science from Data to Action. Total attendees numbered near one thousand, which would have been an impossible number for us to host in-person. More proof that virtual events can bring us together in ways that are inclusive and meaningful.

Global Food+ 2021

February 12, 19, 26, and March 5, 2021

poster advertising the Global Food+ 2021 events

GLOBAL FOOD+ 2021 was a joint webinar series run by researchers at Boston University, Harvard, MIT, and Tufts that is free and open to all. Four separate 90 minute sessions took place on successive Fridays beginning February 12, 2021. Each session featured ten rapid-fire 7 minute “speed talks,” given by top scholars and researchers working in the greater Boston area. The speakers presented their most recent research findings on food, including its links to agriculture, health, the environment, and society. This series featured 8 researchers and faculty members from the Friedman School and the HNRCA and had 14 total representatives from Tufts University.

Commencement 2021

May 23, 2021

The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy awarded degrees to 114 students on May 23 in a virtual ceremony marked by joy, hope, and recognition of a uniquely challenging year.

Dean Dariush Mozaffarian addressed graduates from the school’s studio, wearing academic regalia. “You, our future leaders, are our school’s most important products,” he said. “Remember what you’ve learned. Remember what brought you here. Remember where you wish to go. Keep your connections and your network, innovate, take risks, and aim for the higher good.”

Student speaker Melissa Gordon, N21, spoke frankly about the pandemic. “Some of us have found silver linings and types of resilience and adaptability we didn’t know we had,” she said. “But mostly, it’s been horrible.” Gordon offered nine seconds of silence for those killed this year by police violence.

She also shared fond memories of her years at the Friedman School, and said she was “excited to see where we take life as we enter the post-graduation working world. . . . I urge you to keep asking hard questions and making those in power perspire, and to use your truth-telling toolkit to make positive change.”

It will take fierce caring, but change is possible, said keynote speaker Yvonne Maddox, president and CEO of the TA Thornton Foundation, dedicated to the health and wellness of underserved communities. “The future will look bright and will bring opportunities for you to explore and effect relevant ideas, to secure grant funding and new job opportunities,” Maddox predicted.

The Path to Food Sovereignty in the United States

June 9, 2021

speaker series poster for the food sovereignty event

As part of our work to highlight and present more scholarship and insights from under-represented voices in the food system, graduate student organizers Anglélica Valdés Valderrama, Alexandria Schmall, and Beth Williams moderated this stellar panel. They centered the event on how various community organizations are working to improve food sovereignty, food justice, and nutrition in partnership with communities across the American Southwest and Puerto Rico. Featuring four esteemed speakers, Chef Maria Parra Cano of Sana Sana Foods, Denisa Livingston of Dine Community Advocacy Alliance, Danya Carroll of Ndée Bikíyaa, The Peoples’ Farm, and Dr. Katia Avilés-Vázquez of Institute for Research and Action in Agroecology, attendees spent 25 minutes in breakout room discussions facilitated by the speakers and the graduate student organizers discussing their vision for achieving food sovereignty in the United States.

More Events of Note

Throughout July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021

June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020