Class Notes

If you have an announcement that you’d like to share with the Friedman School community, submit it as a Class Note. Write to us about what you’ve been up to – seeing fellow alumni, traveling, getting married, having a baby, or changing jobs – we love to hear from you. Your submissions are all the more meaningful at a time when it is more important than ever to stay connected.

View older class notes.

class notes by year

Melissa Fuster

2008, 2013

My book, "Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City", was published by the University of North Carolina Press in October 2021. The book brings together scholarship from public health, nutrition, history, migration studies, and other social sciences to examine how global and structural forces intersect to create the persisting diet-related health inequities we see among immigrant communities in the United States. Plus, I am happy to share that I began a new position, as Associate Professor at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine!

Azamra Ellie

Jeremy Edelman

2020

My wife, Becca, and I recently had our first child! Azamra Ellie was born in August and we’re so lucky to have her in our lives. She’s already showing interest in Friedman School subjects. :)

Sara Scinto-Madonich

2018

Sara is now a member of the USDA's Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review (NESR) team, the research synthesis and review component of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP). The NESR team conducts systematic reviews to inform federal food and nutrition policies and programs like the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, nutrition education initiatives, and nutrition assistance programs.

Megan Maisano

2018

We're excited to share that we welcomed our first baby, Madeline, to the world this summer!

Eva (Evie) Tomczyk

2017

In April 2020, I started working as an IRB Administrator at Tufts Medical Center.

Linsey Hartenstein

2016 (MNSP)

Graduated from Yale New Haven Hospital's Dietetic Internship in 2018. Currently working at Whiting Forensic Hospital, a maximum security and enhanced security inpatient psychiatric hospital, providing medical nutrition therapy to adults involved in the Connecticut criminal justice system.

Mireille Najjar

2016

Mireille Najjar, N16, relocated to Southern California, where she earned her Master of Public Health inNutrition from Loma Linda University and became an RD. Mireille began her career as a clinical dietitian at a long-term acute care hospital in the Los Angeles Area, providing specialized nutrition care for critically ill and medically complex patients.

Deeana Ijaz

2016

We welcome a healthy baby girl, Isra Sehr Ahmed on January 17, 2020.

Nora and her big brother Alex

Meghan Dinh (Johnson)

2013

Meghan and her husband welcomed their second child, Nora, on July 2, 2020. Big brother Alex is thrilled to have a new playmate.

Jennifer Buell

2003

Jennifer Buell was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of Agenus, a biotechnology company in Lexington, MA focused on the development of immune based therapies for patients with cancer and infectious diseases. The company has brought 15 new discoveries to patients in the past 4 years and is currently advancing the first of these programs to registration with the FDA.

Miriam Nelson

1987

Miriam E. Nelson, PhD was named president and chief executive officer of Newman's Own Foundation in January 2021. She served as acting president and CEO since January 2020, and as a board member of Newman's Own, Inc., from 2015 to 2019. As a prominent health and nutrition scholar, U.S. policy advisor, bestselling author, and social entrepreneur, Dr. Nelson leads the private foundation to sustain the legacy of Paul Newman’s philanthropic work.