Alumni Awards

Patricia Kearney, N78, AG81 - Excellence in Nutrition Award

Patricia Kearney is president and CEO of PMK Associates, Inc., a strategic marketing and communications firm specializing in food and nutrition, agriculture, public health and environmental issues. Kearney has over 25 years of results-oriented experience in developing and executing transformational strategies in the food-health space.

Kearney was the first woman and first nutritionist appointed chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) where she integrated policy initiatives for the food chain, ranging from research to nutrition and farm policy to trade. During her tenure at USDA, Kearney was nutrition advisor for over $25 billion in federal food and nutrition programs. She also acted as Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment during the 1990 Farm Bill that advanced sustainability measures in this major piece of legislation. Kearney has served in The White House in two administrations, first as Communications Director for the President’s Private Sector Initiatives Program where she coordinated numerous public-private partnerships. Later she was Director of the President’s Commission on Environmental Quality, where she helped forge solution-oriented partnerships among government, corporate, and environmental leaders. She was also consultant to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment for its first government-wide review of nutrition research.

Pat is a founding member of the Harvard Business School food policy committee PAPSAC, is on the Board of Directors of the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital Dietetic Internship Program, sits on the Tufts Nutrition Council, and serves as a Tufts Entrepreneurship Advisor.

Corey O'Hara, Ph.D., F08, N08, NG19 - Leah Horowitz Award In memory of Leah Horowitz (FPAN ’06)

Corey O’Hara is Nepal Country Director for iDE, which creates livelihood opportunities for the rural poor through market-based approaches in agriculture, nutrition, and sanitation. He has worked across sectors for a decade and a half on international economic development, public health, and environmental issues.

In 2019, Corey completed a PhD from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, with research on novel approaches to understand and evaluate dietary quality in rural contexts. His recent work has also focused on women’s empowerment in rural Nepal and on interventions designed to improve household and community resilience to the effects of climate change. Corey serves as Managing Editor of the Food and Nutrition Bulletin and is Associate Editor for topics related to sustainable diets and food systems.

Previously, Corey worked for the Clinton Global Initiative building global public-private partnerships, monitoring and communicating their impact, and liaising with the Foreign Policy Office of former President Clinton. From 2008 to 2011, he also coordinated the Haiti Action Network, a multisector group of actors engaged in long-term development, recovery, and reconstruction efforts. Corey holds dual Masters degrees from the Friedman School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts and an A.B. in Linguistics from Harvard University.

Lauren Au, Ph.D., NG13 - Rising Star Award 

Dr. Lauren Au is an Associate Researcher at the University of California’s Nutrition Policy Institute in Berkeley. Dr. Au’s research is centered on identifying effective policies and large-scale programs to improve dietary quality and health behaviors in low-income mothers, infants, and children, as well as evaluate school-based nutrition policies and programs to reduce obesity in underserved populations. Dr. Au obtained her MS in Nutrition and Public Health and RD from Columbia University, and her PhD in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from Tufts University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley and also served as a nutrition advisor to U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Lauren is also an avid swimmer and has successfully swam the English Channel, Manhattan Island, and the Catalina Channel.