Awards and Honors

This year our faculty were the recipients of numerous honors and distinguished awards. Their respective contributions to their fields continue to move nutrition science forward and inspire critical changes to the policies that influence lives both locally and globally. 

Friedman School Professor Alice Lichtenstein and Associate Professor Sean Cash participate in a panel discussion

Alice H. Lichtenstein is the 2018 recipient of the Supelco AOCS Research Award, which recognizes outstanding original research in fats, oils, lipid chemistry or biochemistry. She is the first female recipient of this award, since the inception of the prize in the 1960s. She also received the National Lipid Association’s Honorary Lifetime Membership Award and was named a Class of 2018 ASN Fellow. A Fellow is the highest honor ASN bestows, recognizing individuals for significant discoveries and distinguished careers in the field of nutrition.

Eileen Kennedy was also named a Class of 2018 ASN Fellow for her lifetime of achievements.

Friedman School Dean Dariush Mozaffarian received the 2018 Chanchlani Global Health Research Award and delivered an accompanying lecture at McMaster University on February 12, 2018.

Sean B. Cash received an endowed professorship, The Bergstrom Foundation Professor in Global Nutrition. He was also elected to the Board of Directors of The Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE).

HNRCA Director and Friedman Professor Sarah Booth received the ASN’s E.V. McCollum Award. This award is given to a clinical investigator who is perceived as a major creative force, actively generating new concepts in nutrition and personally seeing to the execution of studies testing their validity.

Friedman Professor José Ordovás received the ASN’s David Kritchevsky Career Achievement Award in Nutrition. This award is presented in recognition of a career devoted to promoting interaction among, support for, and assistance of outstanding nutrition researchers in governmental, private, and academic sectors resulting in the application of fundamental knowledge to delivery of better nutrition products and information to the public. 

Daniel Maxwell (left) and Karen Jacobsen, participate in a discussion with Dean Dariush Mozaffarian

Associate Professor Elizabeth Johnson was awarded the ASN’s Mary Swartz Rose Senior Investigator Award. This award is given to an investigator for outstanding research on the safety and efficacy of bioactive compounds for human health.

Friedman Professor Irv Rosenberg was awarded the Langholz Award by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation. This award is presented to the person whose contribution to nutrition has had the greatest international significance.

Associate Professor Sara Folta was named a 2018 Mid-Career Leadership Institute Fellow by the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

In September of 2017, Feinstein International Center (FIC) faculty were honored at the naming event of the Henry J. Leir Institute for Human Security. Associate Professor Karen Jacobsen, Professor and Research Director Daniel Maxwell, and FIC Director Gregory Gottlieb became Henry J. Leir Professorship holders.

Friedman Professor Elena Naumova, Assistant Professor Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, and Professor Chris Economos

Elena Naumova, a professor and chair of the Division of Nutrition Data Science at the Friedman School, was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by Novosibirsk State Technical University in Russia, where she received her master’s and doctoral degrees in statistics and applied math. The award is given to distinguished leaders for outstanding contributions to the development of scientific, educational, and cultural collaborations with Russian and foreign partners.

This summer, Nicole Tichenor Blackstone joined the Friedman School faculty as an assistant professor in the Division of Agriculture, Food, and Environment. Prior to joining us, Nicole was a postdoctoral research fellow with the Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire and earned her Ph.D. and M.S. from the Friedman School.

Christina Economos, director of ChildObesity180 and professor and New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition at the Friedman School was awarded the Rose Mary Swartz Memorial Award by the Greater NY Dietetic Association.