# Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy

The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (also called the Friedman School) at Tufts University brings together biomedical, nutritional, clinical, social, and behavioral scientists to conduct research, educational, and community service programs in the field of human nutrition. Founded in 1981, the school's mission is to generate trusted science, educate future leaders, and produce real world impact in nutrition science and policy. The school has long billed itself as "only graduate school of nutrition in the United States".
The Friedman School is one of the eight schools that currently comprise Tufts University. Although originally split between the university's Medford/Somerville campus and the health sciences campus in Boston, almost all of the school's facilities and programs now share the health sciences campus with the School of Medicine and the School of Dental Medicine. The Jaharis Family Center for Biomedical and Nutrition Research, which opened in 2002, houses most of the nutrition school. The school currently enrolls over 200 masters and doctoral students.

## Organization and faculty

The Friedman School is under the supervision of a dean, appointed by the president and the provost, with the approval of the Trustees of Tufts College (the university's governing board). The dean has responsibility for the overall administration of the school, including faculty appointments, curriculum, admissions and financial aid, student affairs, development, and facilities.
Faculty at the school include biomedical scientists, economists, nutritionists, epidemiologists, physicians, political scientists and psychologists focusing on a myriad of issues with the common thread of nutrition and its role in understanding and fostering the growth and development of human populations. The school's concern with the problems of hunger and malnutrition in United States and abroad is reflected in the research and applied work being done by its faculty and students. Areas of specialty include the socioeconomic parameters of malnutrition, nutrition program design and implementation, social marketing and development policy. Graduates of the programs in these areas are employed in government and non-governmental agencies as well as private voluntary organizations throughout the world and in the United States.
Many Friedman School faculty members hold a dual appointment at the Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. Supported by the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the HNRCA is the largest research institution in the world devoted to investigating the relationship between nutrition and aging.

## Leadership and faculty

Christina Economos was appointed dean on July 1, 2023. Dean Economos successfully led the Friedman School as dean ad interim over the preceding year. Building on her long career at the Friedman School, she launched the development of a growth and sustainability plan for the school, strengthened communications and culture, and focused on bringing new faculty to the school.
Past deans have included Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist who had long warned about the dangers of obesity, years before the COVID-19 pandemic.