Dear Friedman Community,
My name is Emily Evans and I am a second year student in the Combined Master of Science/Dietetic Internship at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Frances Stern Nutrition Center at Tufts Medical Center. I feel truly honored to be a graduate student at Tufts University, and am extremely grateful to those who have given me this opportunity. The scholarship funding made possible by the kind gifts from alumni and friends of the school have allowed me to pursue an expanded education and a second calling (I was a paralegal for several years before deciding to pursue a career in nutrition) that I would otherwise not have been able to do.
MS students are required to do a research-based "senior project" with the expectation of producing a publishable manuscript for a peer-reviewed journal. I have been fortunate enough to work closely with Dr. Johanna Dwyer over the past year to produce a paper on a research study performed at the metabolic research unit of the Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging studying the metabolic effects of consumption of cranberry juice on urine pH and other relevant biochemical parameters. Our goal is to report experimental data to demonstrate the size of cranberry juice's effects on urine under controlled metabolic conditions using a dataset of never published observations collected by Dr. Dwyer and colleagues. With the help of co-authors Dr. Lynne Ausman, Dr. Helen Rasmussen, and Dr. Gerard Dallal, we will submit the results for publication in the coming weeks.
For the dietetic internship portion of my degree, I have rotated through various clinical, community, and food service locations around Boston. The American Dietetic Association has specific requirements that must be met for interns to become eligible to sit for the national examination to become a registered dietitian. The Frances Stern Nutrition Center's dietetic internship program includes almost twice the required hours of experience in the clinical setting – most of which are at Tufts Medical Center. As I get ready to graduate and take the RD exam, I feel confident that my experiences at Tufts have prepared me well to become a valuable asset to the important and dynamic field of nutrition and dietetics.
During these trying economic times, I am more grateful than ever before for the generous financial aid I've received from the Friedman School– aid that I’m well aware would not be possible without the contributions of donors. I am so proud to be a student at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and sincerely thank those who have made it possible.
Sincerely,
Emily Evans,
MS Candidate, Frances Stern Combined Dietetic Internship/Master's Degree Program
Tufts University, The Gerald J. & Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
