Our community participated in a wide range of meaningful and inspiring events this year and seemingly in an instant had to pivot to an all-virtual world of presentations, conferences, and special events. From creating a new summer Speaker Series, to becoming Zoom presentation experts, our students, staff, and faculty met the new virtual moment by ramping up their own communication and engagement opportunities. Read on for a sampling of some of our activities.
Annual Farm Tour - New Entry Sustainable Farming Project
Each year, New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (NESFP) opens their ‘doors’ and welcomes the community for a tour at their incubator farm sites for an afternoon of fun and farming in the field. The tour gives an insider’s view of the beginning farmer incubator training sites and what it takes to farm on ¼ acre. Attendees learn from project farmers and staff about New Entry's beginning farmer training programs, farmland preservation efforts, and farm employment resources.
New Entry resides on the scenic grounds of Moraine Farm, a classic Olmsted landscape, where areas are separated by function in a creative design that respects the natural topography of the land. In guided farm and Food Hub tours, visitors experienced an educational walk through the fields that still thrive today, learned about organic crop production, and saw how NESFP coordinates and send out out the hundreds of fresh food donations they harvest from their organic demonstration plot every week.
Along with activities for kids, music, and edible samplings from their organic farming demonstration plot, the event also featured a unique incubator farmers market. Housed in the historic 1882 barn designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the market highlighted current farmers launching their startup farming operations on the New Entry incubator plots.
Professional Development Workshops for Students
This series of workshops spearheaded by Friedman's Student Affairs department provided students with in-depth opportunities to learn how to hone their networking skills. Several of these workshops in September 2019 took a hands-on approach with highly interactive sessions where students were guided step-by-step through the process of building a stronger LinkedIn profile. Guided by Associate Director of Career Services, Lori Ioannone Rodriguez, students learned how to take full advantage of LinkedIn, grow their professional connections, and open up to new opportunities. In a follow up session, students learned how to use the broad reach of LinkedIn to effectively network for jobs, internships, or other career related information and leads.
2019 Food Innovation Summit and Career & Talent Expo
The Tufts Food and Nutrition Innovation Council hosted its first annual Food Innovation Summit, October 22-23, 2019. The mission of the Food & Nutrition Innovation Council is to foster an ecosystem of science-driven innovation and entrepreneurship to catalyze a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable food system. The Council brings together diverse stakeholders, including major insurance, pharma, global food companies, exciting start-ups, investment funds, and leading national and international advocacy organizations.
The 2019 Summit highlighted cutting–edge science related to specific grand challenges in food and nutrition innovation, specifically in the areas of: (1) Financial rewards for tackling obesity and diabetes; (2) the sustainability of novel plant-based meat replacements; (3) skepticism of Big Food and brand communication. The Summit included a keynote address on the scientific evidence for each grand challenge as well as moderated panel discussions comprised of leading scientists in each field.
A companion event, our first annual Career and Talent Expo was an interactive career fair for our Food and Nutrition Innovation Council members to identify the best and brightest talent for future success and highlight industry opportunities for students. Members of the Food & Nutrition Innovation Council hosted traditional career fair booths and presented industry opportunities to interested students. Read more about these events here.
50th Anniversary of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health
This year marked the 50th Anniversary of the first – and still only – White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health in 1969. Commissioned by President Richard Nixon and chaired by Dr. Jean Mayer, the conference sparked crucial progress in U.S. food and nutrition policy focused on hunger, changing the national landscape and conversation. Our food system and the associated challenges have changed dramatically in the past 50 years. Major issues include obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases, rising healthcare costs, continuing food insecurity and growing disparities, and challenges to sustainability.
To honor the 50th Anniversary of the White House Conference, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy and the Nutrition Department at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosted an anniversary symposium, joined by an impressive list of conference partner organizations. Read more details about the event here.
Food Tank Live in Boston
A year-round event series by Food Tank featuring incredible speakers and held in partnership with the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
November's event was titled "Transparency, Equity, Affordability, and Social Justice in the Food System," and featured a fantastic roster of speakers from across the food policy, communication, and activism spectrum. Friedman Dean Dariush Mozaffarian was a featured speaker, alongside Friedman Alumna and Food Tank Founder Danielle Nierenberg, Frances Moore Lappe, Wenonah Hauter (Food and Water Watch), Katherine Walla (Food Tank), Amelia Nierenberg (New York Times), Sarah Blackburn (Edible Boston), Sara Bleich (Harvard) and many others.
Each of the talks also aired as part of a Facebook Live series in partnership with Facebook’s Community Leadership Program and released on Food Tank's charting iTunes podcast, “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg.”
Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series: José Andrés
Twice named to Time’s “100 Most Influential People” list and awarded “Outstanding Chef” and “Humanitarian of the Year” by the James Beard Foundation, José Andrés is an internationally recognized culinary innovator, New York Times best-selling author, educator, humanitarian, and chef/owner of ThinkFoodGroup. One of the most famous chefs in America and a pioneer of Spanish tapas in the U.S., Andrés has been a tireless advocate for immigration reform, food policy, and disaster relief. In 2015, President Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal at the White House. He is founder of the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, which has earned global respect for its chef-driven humanitarian and disaster relief operations, providing nearly four million meals for those in need in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria and over two million meals in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian. He was nominated for a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize and received an honorary degree from Tufts University.
The event, sponsored by Tisch College, the Office of the Provost, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts Dining Services, the Environmental Studies Program, the Tufts Food Rescue Collaborative, and the Fletcher Food Policy Club, was a comprehensive, impactful conversation about humanitarian aid, food policy, and transforming communities through the power of food.
Food & Nutrition Entrepreneurship Competition Workshops
Non-Profit vs. For-Profit Status and Funding & IP Basics
This workshop addressed how to select the right form of legal entity and finance your business, differences between non-profit and for-profit organizations and sources of funding, and protecting your business's intellectual property. Attorneys from Foley & Lardner LLP; Michael Blau, Chethan Srinivasa, and Julie Lufti were the featured speakers.
Branding with Latham Thomas
During this virtual conversation with Latham Thomas, students learned about the process of building a successful and lasting brand for their future businesses. Latham Thomas is a bestselling author and the founder of Mama Glow, a maternity lifestyle brand committed to supporting women along the childbearing continuum.
Entrepreneurship Workshop: Branch Food Community Table Visit
Community Table, produced by Branch Food, is for eaters, entrepreneurs, and students of food to connect and exchange ideas. A model created by Babson's Food Sol, the design is always one table and one conversation, with the collective driving the content. People have reported finding partners, expanding networks, and reaching retail all as direct results of attending Community Table. For this workshop, students traveled off-site to participate in a Community Table event, gaining the opportunity to network, discuss, connect and learn from others working in food and nutrition in the city.
Food & Nutrition Entrepreneurship Competition Workshop: Creating a Start-Up Business Plan
Bob Stringer of Crimson Seed Capital led this informative and inspiring workshop, walking participants through the creation of building a start-up "business plan deck", from crafting a mission and vision, to execution and fundraising.
Science of Creativity from a Social Business Perspective
Led by Jimena Florez, attendees learned how to build creatively social business frameworks—business models that could be sustainable and create impact. This creative process workshop enabled students to earn tools in order to develop social "business" structures that could be used to overcome long-lasting social issues from a business perspective. Topics included:
- How to build effective business frameworks in order to leverage scientific knowledge
- Jimena’s creative thinking framework
- The key role of scientists for business innovation and sustainability
Breaking the Silence: Confronting Exclusion in Research
The evening began with keynote speaker Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD, past President of the American Public Health Association and Senior Fellow, Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse College. Dr. Jones is known for her contributions to critical race theory and her work in defining institutional racism, personally mediated racism, and internalized racism within the context of modern US race relations.
The event also inclued facilitated roundtable discussions to further explore the themes from the keynote presentation and panel discussion. These dialogues provided an opportunity for participants with diverse views and backgrounds to speak openly about exclusion in research to seek a better understanding of their own views, as well as the views and experiences of others.
Breaking the Silence: Confronting Exclusion in Research is the fourth symposium in the Breaking the Silence series launched in 2017. Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the Institute of Clinical Research and Health Polices Studies (ICRHPS) hosted this symposium, in collaboration with Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center. Read more about the event here.
A New Way to Celebrate Commencement
At the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy’s virtual commencement ceremony, speakers included Dean Dariush Mozaffarian; Alan Solomont, A70, A08P, the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life; and Friedman School Board of Advisors Chair Tricia Perez Kennealy. Afterward, division chairs and department heads hosted live Zoom gatherings for individual Friedman School programs, where they read graduates’ names and held interactive activities.
Doctoral candidate Katrina Sarson delivered the class address, describing the inspiration and spirit of inquiry that have characterized her years at the Friedman School, and pointing to the possibilities of the future despite the difficulties of the moment.
“It is heartbreaking not to be able to hug and high-five and say congratulations face to face, but it’s so important to say thank you and honor the ways that we’ve impacted each other,” she said. “I believe that within the chaos and uncertainty of this time is the opportunity for each of us to do great things.”
Sonia Angell, director and state public health officer at the California Department of Public Health, acknowledged in her commencement address that this year’s graduates are facing steep challenges. But COVID-19 has exposed the inequities and weaknesses of our health, food, and other systems, which opens the door to change, she said.
“You were not unlucky, but rather honored and blessed to be here at this moment when many things are crumbling, but even more things are possible,” she said. “Here’s the beauty in the middle of this difficult and sad moment of reckoning: We can choose to do this differently.”
Friedman at ASN: Nutrition 2020 Live Online
The American Society for Nutrition’s first ever all-virtual meeting was held June 1 – 4, 2020. "Nutrition 2020 Live Online" was a rich, interactive experience offering great content in the form of lectures, scientific sessions, satellite programs, virtual abstract presentations, virtual exhibits, and more. Friedman presenters connected with a global audience through panel discussions and live Q& A. Members of our community were able to attend the meeting virtually, and interact with other scientists and practitioners from around the globe, as they announced exciting research findings and discussed their implications for practice and policy. See the full list of Friedman School affiliated presenters here.
Advancing Federal Nutrition Research to Improve America's Health
The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized the need to bolster nutrition research as the disease has challenged the food system and exacerbated food insecurity for millions of Americans. Greater federal coordination and investment in nutrition research could accelerate discoveries across critical areas and positively impact the economy, public health, and population resilience to COVID-19 and new threats.
On July 15th, 2020 the Bipartisan Policy Center and Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy released a white paper and invited the community to join an important discussion on key strategies to strengthen federal nutrition research and coordination.
In addition to the white paper, an announcement of a coalition of major organizations who stand in support of the need for greater investment in federal nutrition research was made at the event.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), James Anderson, MD PhD, Scott H. Hutchins, PhD, and our own Dariush Mozaffarian, MD were the featured speakers. The event also included a lively panel discussion with Tracey Brown, CEO, American Diabetes Association; Christina Ferzli, Director of Global Corporate Affairs, Ocean Spray; William Li, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Angiogenesis Foundation; and Francesca Weaks, MS, DrPH(c), Health Policy and Research Manager, NAACP. The panel discussion was moderated by Dan Glickman, Former Agriculture Secretary; Co-chair, SNAP Task Force, BPC.