Cassandra Adu-Asare
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer; Writer
A newbie to Radio and Internet Journalism, she has worked with and around women and children on Malnutrition issues for a number of NGOs. Cassandra graduated from the University of Ghana with a Bachelor's Degree in Nutrition and Food Science in 2004. She interned with the Global Food-banking Network in Summer 2008 during which time she worked on food security issues in Ghana and helped to monitor and evaluate the Ghana School Feeding program. In the Fall of 2008, while studying at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition, she enrolled in a Directed study - The Friedman Nutrition Internet Radio program - where she acquired skills in Podcasting. She co-produced the Friedman podcast and also served as a co-writer during the period.
Erin Dubich
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Erin will receive her Masters degree in Nutrition Communication from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in February 2010. She will complete the Didactic Program in Dietetics at Simmons College and will begin a dietetic internship in Fall 2010. In the past two years at Friedman, Erin has developed interests in food science and social media's role in nutrition communication. Erin enjoys a cold glass of milk, baking and cooking with her friends, and shopping for fruit and veggies at the farmers market. In her very spare time, Erin enjoys outdoor adventures, bikram yoga, running, and weightlifting. Her goal as a dietitian is to help people develop a healthy, happy relationship with food, and to show them how nutritious food can be tasty.
Laura Ficker
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Writer
Laura grew up in central Minnesota and completed her BA in Dietetics with a minor in Gender and Women's Studies at the College of Saint Benedict in 2007. She is currently a second-year dietetic intern at Frances Stern Nutrition Center at Tufts Medical Center and is also completing her Masters of Science degree in Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. While at Tufts, Laura has worked at the John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Prevention as a research assistant for the Healthy Snacking and Soccer Study and the Balance Project. Laura plans to return to Minnesota upon completion of her degree and internship to persue a career as a Registered Dietitian. She is interested in pediatric obesity prevention and the application of theories of behavior change.
Sarah Gold
Nutrition Talks Internet Radio Program Writer & Producer
Sarah is a dual degree student, completing a Masters degree in Nutrition Communication at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Didactic Program in Dietetics at Simmons College. Following graduation in May 2012, she plans to complete her dietetic internship. As a dietitian, Sarah hopes to help people have a healthy relationship with food and share her love for cooking with real food. At Friedman she has found a passion for writing and translating the latest nutrition research into sound advice for the public. Sarah enjoys running and teaching spin around Boston and hitting the ski slopes in the winter. She also likes to spend her free time cooking and trying out new restaurants.
Mona Hdeib
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Mona Hdeib has worked in the health field for the past 8 years. Having started college early, she got her first Bachelor’s degree at the age of 17 in Natural Sciences from Mountain State University in Beckley, WV, where she grew up, and then received her second Bachelor’s in Biology from University of Missouri 2 years later, where she also discovered an interest in Nutritional Science and biomedical research. Working in a nutritional oncology lab for 2 years in Columbia, MO, gave her the interest in nutrition which she finally decided to pursue at the Tufts’ Friedman School in the BMN program, after having worked in health care and biomedical research for 6 years. Here at Tufts, she will graduate this summer, after only 2 years, with both an MS in Nutritional Sciences and an MPH from the School of Medicine. Being from Romania, a former communist country, she knows the importance of free media and loves the radio as one of the first sources of information dissemination in other parts of the world.
Sarah Hippert
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Sarah just finished her first year of the M.S. in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition program and will be starting the M.A. in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School this coming fall. Prior to beginning graduate school she worked at the Department of Justice as a Foreign Commerce Paralegal and later the Foreign Liaison for the Antitrust Division. She received an A.B. from Bowdoin College in Government & Legal Studies, and Music. Sarah is also a kickboxing instructor, classically trained singer, yoga practitioner and martial artist. She has a keen interest in food policy and economics, nutrition and physical activity education, and food marketing.
Victoria Ho
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Victoria Ho is originally from sunny Southern California (Thousand Oaks, California). She is currently rounding up a dietetic internship at Tufts Medical Center and is also an MS Nutrition candidate at the Friedman School. Her interests are in pediatric nutrition and helping families to make healthy lifestyle changes through education about nutrition, health, and cooking skills. Besides nutrition, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, reading, yoga, and cats. Her favorite food is anything her mom makes (but especially pie.) For Victoria, the most challenging aspect of nutrition radio (NUTR 297) was being able to bring together all the different aspects of one topic to create a discussion that would be informative and enjoyable to listen in on. For everyone who is interested, she would definitely recommend trying out the course, as it is a great way to learn about different media for communicating nutrition messages.
Meghan Johnson
Friedman Internet Radio Program Writer and Host
Meghan is a dual-degree student, pursing a MS in Food Policy and Nutrition at the Friedman School and an MPH in Health Communication at Tufts School of Medicine. Though she's always had an interest in nutrition, her fascination with diet-related diseases, obesity, and health disparities was piqued as an AmeriCorps member in Washington DC, where she served after earning her undergraduate degree in Psychology. Meghan is most interested in ways to influence heath behavior change (specifically around nutrition and physical activity) through health promotion campaigns, behavioral interventions or other communications strategies. She previously worked for a national cooking-based, nutrition education program where she wrote web copy, managed social media outlets, and helped produce impact reports. She is a new to podcasting but hopes to continue to expand her repertoire of strategies to communicate health messaging.
Fiona Kenny
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Writer; Logistics Support
Fiona is a registered dietitian who came to the Friedman School after several years of working as a clinical dietitian in Rhode Island. She plans on becoming a freelance writer after graduation. In 2007 she interned at Dr. Andrew Weil's Self-Healing magazine and volunteered at Farm Fresh Rhode Island helping promote the use of farmers markets in the state.
She has published an article in the Massachusetts Dietetic Association journal and hopes to submit more in the coming year. She is native to Canada and has lived there from coast to coast - British Columbia to Nova Scotia and several cities in between! She earned a bachelor's degree in History at McGill University (Montreal) in 1994 and a bachelor of science in Nutrition at Acadia University (Nova Scotia) in 2001.
Fiona, her husband, 1 year old son, and 3 pet rabbits live in Providence, Rhode Island.
Allison Knott
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Alison Knott is from Cleveland, TN and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Nutrition Communication. She completed her dietetic internship in 2008 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN and worked as a clinical dietitian in Georgia prior to moving to Boston. She is currently working for Dr. Miriam Nelson in the John Hancock Research Center as a project coordinator for StrongWomen Across America. Allison is passionate about communicating accurate nutrition information to the public and is putting those skills to work blogging and writing nutrition-related freelance articles. You can find her racing in a triathlon, hiking with her dog, or finding her way around the kitchen in new cooking experiences.
Jessica McGovern
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Jessica McGovern is originally from Warwick, NY and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Nutrition Communication. She attended culinary school at Johnson and Wales University for Culinary Nutrition, is a Registered Dietitian and is an intern in the Tufts University office of public relations on the health sciences campus in Boston. An early passion for food has provided her with many opportunities to both explore and understand the science of diet and nutrition. The work, volunteer, and educational experiences, that she has been involved with, has exposed her to many facets of the food and nutrition environment. These experiences have led her to develop a variety of interests in related fields such as agriculture, public health and health education.
Jonathan Mein
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Engineer
Jonathan completed his masters degree in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition at the Friedman school in 2007 and is now a Ph.D. candidate in the same program. His research focuses on the metabolism of carotenoids and their impact on cancer development and progression. Jonathan comes to Tufts from the great state of Kansas, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Human Nutrition at Kansas State University. As an undergraduate, Jonathan's researched investigated the role the role of vitamin A in the development of emphysema. A self-described radio junky, Jonathan is excited about getting out of the lab and into the studio.
Tara Nelson
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Writer
Tara completed her BS in Dietetics at the University of Maryland, College Park in Spring of 2007. She started her dietetic internship at the Frances Stern Nutrition Center, Tufts Medical Center in the fall of that year. While in her internship and graduate school, Tara has helped conduct research at the John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Prevention and has worked part-time as a dietary technician. She is graduating this May and plans to stay in Boston. Tara would like to pursue a career focused on chronic disease prevention. In her spare time, Tara enjoys playing soccer and tennis, outdoor activities, traveling and spending time with family and friends.
Rebecca Nemec
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Rebecca Nemec hails from Sanger, California - which is in the Central San Joaquin Valley near Fresno. A student of the Agriculture Food and Environment program here at Tufts, she hopes to effect policy changes to child nutrition programs operated by the USDA, particularly with regard to advocacy through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. She is also and policies that help improve the nutritional quality of school meals served interested in food service management in large urban school districts. Her overall interest is to deliver fresh, healthy (and more sustainable) food to low-income children in the US. Rebecca is also interested in how racism and other forms of discrimination interact with the food system and with nutrition programs. Accordingly, she hopes to gain skills in community organizing and empowerment. She enjoys growing, cooking and eating good food.
Leila Nilipour
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Leila Nilipour (also known as Lei to her friends and, Leilita to family) grew up in Panama but is originally from Iran. A registered dietician and currently enrolled in the Food Policy and Applied Nutrition Program at Friedman, she hopes to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to work in the area of malnutrition in Central America.
She enjoys Latin American literature/history and painting and is at present writing a novel in Spanish Leila's most challenging part of the Nutrition Radio course was picking out a role to play in the beginning, but it was pleased to find that in the end everyone just naturally fell into what fit each person best. She would definitely recommend the Nutrition radio course because it is fun and different; so it is a good break from the other classes that are so intense. Also, you get to learn a good deal about the topic of the show, especially if it's something you're not familiar with.
Somawina Nwegbu
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Somawina Nwegbu Is from the eastern part of Nigeria (West Africa) where it's Summer all year round. A student in the Nutrition Communication program at Tufts, she hopes to acquire all the necessary skills and information required to keep people everywhere reliably informed about all aspects of nutrition, health and healthy living so as to stem the tide of the obesity pandemic and it's associated diseases. She enjoys photography, all things food and fitness, and motivating others to achieve their goals. Her most challenging part of the Nutrition Radio program was choosing what role to play and - for the most part - keeping warm in Boston!
Rachel Perez
Nutrition Talks Radio Program Host
Rachel is finishing her masters degree in Nutrition Communications at the Friedman School of Nutrition, and recently completed the dietetic internship at Tufts Medical Center. After graduation, Rachel will pursue her joint interests in clinical dietetics and writing. She is particularly passionate about the accurate portrayal of nutrition science and food policy to consumer audiences, and aspires to become a journalist, freelance writer, or editor. Rachel learned about nutrition at an international level through her internship with the European Food Information Council, a non-profit communications organization. She has published several pieces in the Tufts Health and Nutrition Newsletter, and currently enjoys writing for the graduate student newspaper The Friedman Sprout. Rachel comes to Tufts from California, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Clinical Nutrition from the University of California Davis.
Lindsay Peterson
Lindsay is finishing her second year of graduate school, pursuing a masters in nutrition communication. Her interest in nutrition began as an athlete, but has broadened to include food policy, behavior theory, and the many factors contributing to the obesity epidemic in the US. She taught middle school for two years after undergrad, an experience that inspired her to focus on nutrition education and behavior change.
Tracy Pui
Nutrition Talks Radio Program Engineer
Tracy is originally from Hong Kong, China. She decided to travel to the US 5 years ago to open her eyes and gain more knowledge. She is currently a dietetic intern at Tufts Medical Center and will receive her master degree in nutrition science from Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in May 2012. Since last year, Tracy has been actively involved in nutrition and community events. She developed and held different Chinese nutrition workshops for Chinese immigrants in Boston Chinatown. .Her interests are nutrition support/inpatient nutrition services as she can use her knowledge to help people get over their hardest time of life. Besides nutrition, Tracy enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants/food tasting and pilates. Her goal is to become a registered dietitian right after she finishes her internship in June 2012.
Emily Rak
Emily received her MS in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from Tufts in 2011 and currently works as a staff assistant at the John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity Prevention. Originally from central Massachusetts, Emily earned her BA in anthropology from the University of Vermont. She hopes to pursue a career in health policy, specifically work that addresses environmental determinants of chronic disease. Emily enjoys shopping for fine cheese, scouting out dumplings in Chinatown, and picnics in the park.
Ashley Reynolds
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Ashley is a second-year student in the Nutrition Communication MS program. She has a passion for everything food and studied Dietetics to earn her BS from University of Delaware. Ashley became a registered dietitian in 2008 and currently works as a clinical dietitian for the Massachusetts General Hospital Pediatric Epilepsy Program. She is working on research at MGH studying the efficacy of dietary therapy for epilepsy and loves coming up with creative food solutions for her patients on therapeutic diets. After Friedman, she hopes to pursue a doctoral degree that will help her continue combining her love of food and communicating nutrition information.
Lindsey Ripley
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Lindsey Ripley is originally from Fort Collins, Colorado and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition. Her interests are in nutrition and physical activity interventions that work to prevent chronic disease and promote well being in children and adults. She plans to learn the skills needed to help communities and individuals make healthy changes that promote well being and high quality of life, and has this to say about the Nutrition Radio course: "Radio programs take a significant amount of group planning and coordination and although this may have been the most challenging part of the radio course, it is also what I learned the most from. I truly enjoyed working with a great group to produce a creative and informative show about the importance of the National School lunch Program."
Leigh Rosenorn
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Coordinator
Leigh grew up in Minneapolis where she earned her BS in Clinical Nutrition, and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. After working for four years managing a clinical nutrition and diabetes research program, Leigh took a position at Novo Nordisk Phamaceruticals. There she developed her project management, writing, and speaking skills while working first a s a Sales Representative, then as a Sales Trainer in New Jersey, and later as an International Project Manager in Copenhagen, Denmark.
After four years with Novo Nordisk, Leigh relocated with her husband to Zurich, Switzerland where she produced an expatriate magazine. In 2007, after relocating to Boston, MA Leigh began her Masters of Nutrition Communication program at Tufts University. After graduation, she plans to start her own nutrition communications company. Leigh lives in Winchester, MA with her husband and three-year-old daughter.
Jessica Ilyse Smith
Jessica Ilyse hails from the great state of Ohio; but feels equal parts Midwesterner and New Yorker, as she spent the past 7 years in NYC before moving to the Boston area. She is a second year student in the Agriculture, Food and Environment program and is passionate about issues of food access and urban farming. In the future, she hopes to pitch a fork at a city farm and to also spotlight food access and environmental justice issues through journalism. This past summer Jessica worked at Public Radio International's Living on Earth, where she learned the ins and outs of broadcast radio. Episode 1 is Jessica's début as a radio host...!
Alexandra Tung
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Alexandra currently pursuing a masters in Agriculture Food and Environment. Originally from Hong Kong, she earned her BS in Nutrition and Dietetics from Cornell University in 2005, and credits the rural setting of Ithaca for sparking her interest in agriculture and the environment. In the past summer, Alexandra was involved in planning a national campaign on school lunch and conducted research for a book about living democracy and the environment. In her remaining time at the Friedman school, she hopes to deepen her understanding in food policies, food systems and sustainability and continue to explore her diverse interests with courses like Nutrition Radio. She enjoys thinking creatively and taking adventures.
Lara Ulfers
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Host
Lara is avid world traveler having lived overseas in Singapore, Cyprus, and Taiwan for 16 years. After returning to the United States to pursue a higher education degree, Lara earned a BS in Nutrition and Fitness from Colorado State University. She is currently completing a Masters degree in Nutrition from Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy as well as a 20-month dietetic internship at Tufts Medical Center, Frances Stern Nutrition Center. As she prepares to graduate in May 2009, Lara has found an interest in many aspects of nutrition and health including policy initiatives and current practices that influence the way Americans perceive and are exposed to food and nutrition information. Lara has also dedicated much of her time in the continuation of learning about cancer development and research, as well as effective dietetic approaches to help those patients currently affected by the disease. Lara currently lives in Brookline, MA while she completes her degree at Tufts University; she looks forward to her next trip to visit her family currently living in Frankfurt, Germany.
Caitlin Usselman
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Writer
Caitlin is a second-year dietetic intern at Frances Stern Nutrition Center at Tufts Medical Center and is looking forward to completing both the internship and her Master's degree in Nutrition in May 2009. After growing up a few miles outside of Washington DC, she completed her BS in Dietetics at East Carolina University (May 2007) and her BS in Psychology at Arizona State University (May 2005). She hopes to incorporate all of her educational and internship experiences to follow her dream of working with children and adults with inborn errors of metabolism and other inherited genetic diseases. During her spare time, she enjoys worldwide traveling, photography, watching baseball, and playing with her pet hedgehog, Sonic.
Utchima
Nutrition Talks Radio Program Producer
Utchima is a senior dietetic intern at Tufts Medical Center and will receive Masters degree in Nutrition from the Friedman School in May 2012. She is always fascinated by the power of whole foods in making people healthy and happy. She always wants to show people how nutritious foods can be both healthy and tasty. Utchima loves baking and cooking so much that she plans to go to cooking school after she graduates in May 2012. Utchima wants to go back to Thailand after to be the 7th dietitian of the country!
Aliza Wasserman
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Writer; Engineering Support
Aliza is looking forward to receiving her masters degrees in Food Policy and Environmental Health from Tufts University in February 2009 and continuing her work in policy advocacy for food and agriculture policies that promote health and sustainability. Originally from New York, Aliza earned a bachelor's degree in Human Development from Cornell University in 2005 and worked in cancer prevention research for one year before moving to Boston. She has worked on the state and federal levels organizing grassroots communities to influence policy makers on food, agriculture and environmental legislation with the Community Food Security Coalition and the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow. Aliza has an ongoing interest in all forms of journalism, is a contributor to The Jew and the Carrot and US Food Policy blogs and is excited about her first experience in radio.
Elizabeth Whelan
Friedman Internet-Radio Program Producer & Host
Elizabeth Whelan, a native of Vienna, Virginia, is currently pursuing a Master's in the Food Policy and Applied Nutrition program. Through this course of study she hopes to become a more thoughtful, qualified and informed advocate. She enjoys photography, swimming, yoga.
