Tufts University is a vibrant academic community and an R1 research institution with more than 200 postdoctoral scholars on its Boston, Medford, and Grafton campuses. Tufts and the Friedman School views postdoctoral scholars as vital to our research and educational community. Here at the Friedman School, our postdoctoral scholar administration is strongly committed to enriching trainees’ preparation as researchers within the university setting as well as in their future career paths. We pride ourselves on fostering a collegial and collaborative environment for research.

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Information and Resources

Research at the Friedman School

Our breadth of research is unparalleled in food and nutrition and our themes and priorities showcase our interdisciplinary strengths.

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Research at Tufts

When you join the Friedman School, you're joining a tier-1 institution where your work is valued and creates real-world impact.

Read More About Research at Tufts

Friedman School Faculty

Faculty at the Friedman School are collegial, experienced, and work beyond the classroom to support evidence-based impact around the world.

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Resources

Submitting an Offer Letter:

When you are ready to present an offer, please use this offer letter template. Before the offer is submitted to the candidate, coordinate with Mei Chung and Courtney King to approve the letter.

They’re coming! Now what?

The candidate has accepted the position! After confirming the start date, the next step is to work with your faculty coordinator or project staff member to make sure the incoming postdoc will have a space, phone, and computer equipment. Your faculty coordinator or project staff member will also ensure the appropriate paperwork is completed for the hire. If you want, your faculty coordinator/project staff member can also send out a welcome announcement. If it is an international hire, your faculty coordinator can also connect the postdoc with the international office to finalize J-1 visa status.

Prior to the postdoc's arrival

  • Request the following information from the postdoc with Courtney King copied on the communication. This information is required to setup the postdoc's position in PeopleSoft.
    • personal email address
    • permanent address
    • local address
    • phone number
  • Courtney will request a new position number for the postdoc through TSS.
  • Courtney will submit the hire PAF to TSS once the new position number is available.
  • TSS will send two emails to the postdoc outlining the following once the PAF has processed.

Once the postdoc arrives

  • All postdocs attend new hire orientation (often scheduled and included in the offer letter). Please contact Lauren Hubbard in HR to schedule orientation.
  • If the postdoc is an international hire,
    • The postdoc must obtain a U.S. bank account upon arrival to the country. This is required to complete the I-9 verification process.
    • The postdoc must check in with the international office upon arrival to the campus. They will attend an international office orientation. They will be asked to enter information into “windstar.” TSS will communicate taxation allowed, and then the postdoc will attend the university's new hire orientation. TSS will be present to verify I-9 documentation at that session.
  • Next, the candidate will report to the Friedman School for their first day of work and attend School and division specific onboarding in the coming days.
  • On their first day of employment, arrange to meet the new hire, and give them a tour of the building, introduce them to their new team, and consider having a welcome lunch or breakfast.

Postdoctoral Handbook & Benefits Information

Tufts offers health and dental benefits to postdoctoral scholars who work at least 17.5 hours per week. Please visit the Postdoctoral Handbook and Dental/Health Benefits Page for benefits information and the university postdoc manual.

Checklist to provide to your new Postdoctoral Scholar

  • Please reference this helpful Tufts New Employee Checklist for steps to follow before your first day, on your first day, during your first week, and other additional resources.
  • Within the first month of employment, schedule a time to meet with Mei Chung, Postdoctoral Officer.

Care of Postdoctoral Scholars

Making an employee feel welcome and setting expectations is the first step toward building a successful working relationship and experience. Please reference the suggested tips outlined below for providing a welcoming introduction to the Friedman School.

  • Communicate expectations for the first 3 months, 6 months, and year of employment.
  • Determine work hours. Postdocs typically work 9:00am-5:00pm Monday-Friday, with some expected flexibility working past 5:00pm.
  • The mentor should make plans to meet with the new postdoc for weekly or bi-weekly check-ins.
  • The mentor coordinates with the postdoc to set up an Individual Development Plan. Per Friedman School policy, IDPs must be completed by all postdocs by the end of October each year, and ideally updated monthly thereafter. Also, per Friedman School policy, Annual Progress Reports (APRs) are due by the end of July each year, and a copy of the completed APR must be submitted to Mei Chung, Postdoctoral Officer (either by printed hardcopy or electronically). Postdocs and mentors will receive a reminder each spring to complete APRs.

Need Assistance?

Friedman School Contacts:

University Contacts:

Resources & Contact Info

Funding Opportunities

  1. Tufts Postdoc Website has a listing of opportunities
  2. Pivot: Go to “Sign Up” in upper right-hand corner to create a customized search.  You’ll received weekly emails with matching funding opportunities.
  3. National Science Foundation: Opportunities are listed by discipline, including SBE (Social, Behavioral & Economics).
  4. Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program: Established in 1936, the Charles A. King Trust was created to “support and promote the investigation of human disease and the alleviation of human suffering through improved treatment.” Clinical and Health Services Research fellowships support human studies including physiological research, behavioral science and health education research, translational research (the application of bench research to patient care), epidemiological research, health policy, outcomes research, and population health, regardless of specialty or discipline. Research may take place in a broad range of settings including community sites. Applicants without Clinical Responsibilities: Commit at least 90% time to research; have completed at least three (3) years and no more than five (5) years of full-time postdoctoral research experience.

Current Postdoctoral Scholars

a headshot of Saroj Adhikari

Bio

Dr. Saroj Adhikari is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. His research focuses on consumer behavior, food systems, and resource management, with an emphasis on how survey-based experiments and data-driven approaches can guide decision-making in agriculture, food, and energy. He studies consumer preferences for emerging food products such as hybrid and plant-based proteins, household responses to energy challenges, and landowner adoption of sustainable rangeland practices. His work combines survey design, discrete choice experiments, contingent valuation, and machine learning tools to generate insights that support practical strategies for food and resource management.

At Tufts, Dr. Adhikari designs and conducts research on consumer preferences and the social impacts of novel food products. His responsibilities include collecting data through surveys and interviews, cleaning and analyzing data using statistical software, developing peer-reviewed publications, and presenting findings at professional conferences. He also contributes to mentoring graduate students and supporting collaborative projects that apply economics, data science, and social science methods to address challenges in food and agriculture.

Education

Dr. Adhikari earned his Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management (minor in Agricultural Economics and Statistics) from Oklahoma State University. He also holds an M.S. in Aquaculture and Fisheries from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and a B.Sc. in Agricultural Sciences from Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

 

Bio

Dr. Bingbing Fan is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Food is Medicine Institute, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University under the supervision of Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian. He is an epidemiology researcher trained in preventive medicine, epidemiology, and biostatistics.

At Tufts University, he works on the Aromatic Amino Acids, Microbiome-Generated Metabolites, and Incident Subclinical and Clinical CVD and Mortality project, which aims to investigate the independent relationships of serial measures of plasma aromatic amino acid-derived microbial metabolites with longitudinal onset and progression of subclinical CVD, CVD, and mortality.

His study interests include: 1) Early-life origins, risk assessment, and prevention strategies of cardiovascular disease; 2) Longitudinal trajectory analysis and growth curve model of cardio-metabolic risk factors in life-course epidemiology; 3) Developing statistical methods in longitudinal trajectory analysis and dynamic prediction; 4) The diagnostic & prognostic biomarker for metabolic diseases.

Education

  • PhD, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Shandong University School of Public Health, China
  • MM, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Shandong University School of Public Health, China
  • MB, Prevention Medicine, Shandong University School of Public Health, China

Bio

Ana Maafs-Rodriguez is a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, in the Nutrition Interventions, Communication, and Behavior Change Division. She works under the supervision of Dr. May May Leung. Ana is a behavioral researcher focused on developing and assessing intervention and communication strategies that promote healthy eating behaviors among Latino populations. In addition to her research, Ana works as a co-instructor at the Friedman School.

Before joining Tufts, she worked as a researcher at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition in Mexico City; as a dietitian providing nutrition counseling; and as an Adjunct Instructor at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Education

  • PhD, Nutrition Interventions, Communication, and Behavior Change, Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Boston, MA
  • MS, Nutrition Interventions, Communication, and Behavior Change, Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Boston, MA
  • MEd, Education, Concentration in Teaching and Learning Processes, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City, Mexico
  • BA, Nutrition and Wellness, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City, Mexico
  • Dietetic Internship, National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition, National Institute of Pediatrics, and UMAE Gynecology-Obstetrics Hospital 4, Mexico City, Mexico

Bio

Dr. Melo Herrera is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and Postdoctoral Scholar at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, working on the Delta GREENS (Growing a Resilient, Enriching, Equitable, and Nourishing Food System) Food is Medicine Project. She leads a mixed-methods evaluation on the availability of health-promoting foods in the target communities to then develop community-level implementation strategies supporting access to health-promoting foods beyond the grant period. 

Her research interests and expertise include federal nutrition assistance programs (particularly focusing on WIC), perinatal nutrition, diet quality, and dietary interventions. As a Latina of color, Dr. Melo Herrera is also passionate about reducing health disparities through nutrition among historically marginalized communities and promoting diversity and inclusion in research and the dietetics profession.

Education

Dr. Melo Herrera completed her PhD in Health Sciences (nutrition focus) at the University of Rhode Island; her MS in Human Nutrition at Boston University and her dietetic internship at Boston Medical Center; and her BS in Nutrition at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the Friedman School, Dr. Melo Herrera served as the research project coordinator for the Rhode Island WIC CIAO project, a grant awarded to the Rhode Island State WIC Office in partnership with Brown University School of Public Health to increase WIC awareness, participation, and retention state-wide using an implementation science approach. 

A portrait image of Travis Moore

Bio

Dr. Travis R. Moore, an NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) recipient, is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. His research focuses on reducing child health inequities by applying implementation and systems science to address the social and structural determinants of health. Dr. Moore investigates how multi-sector coalitions can drive meaningful policy, systems, and environmental changes that promote health equity. He employs a range of methods—including social network analysis, system dynamics modeling, agent-based modeling, and participatory implementation mapping—to design, implement, and evaluate scalable, evidence-informed strategies across both community and clinical settings.

At Tufts, Dr. Moore works with the Catalyzing Communities team—a project of the ChildObesity180 initiative—where he leads investigations into the network dynamics of coalition efforts and into the actions that coalition members take to build on community capacity, increase healthy options and socioeconomic resources, and reduce deterrents to healthy behaviors.

Education

Dr. Moore’s multidisciplinary background, which includes a PhD in Civil Society and Community Research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, an MS in Counseling, and a BS in Premedical Biology from Southern Methodist University, underpins his commitment to addressing health disparities among vulnerable populations such as children and sexual and gender minority youth. 

More information coming soon

Alexander Vonderschmidt poses in a hallway full of greenery. He is wearing a grey suit and smiling.

Bio

Dr. Alexander Vonderschmidt is a postdoctoral researcher within the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. His work evaluates the health and economic impacts of food is medicine interventions to address chronic disease and promote equity in food access and health outcome disparities.

As a nutritional epidemiologist and registered dietitian, Alexander has collaborated with the Scottish Government and academic partners such as the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to explore sustainable diet transitions, AI-driven data integration, and food system resilience.

Education

  • PhD, Population Health and Food Systems
    University of Edinburgh – United Kingdom
  • MS, Nutritional Epidemiology
    Cornell University – Ithaca, NY
  • RDN, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
    Cornell University – Ithaca, NY
  • BS, Dietetics and Nutrition
    Kansas State University – Manhattan, KS
  • BA, French Literature
    Kansas State University – Manhattan, KS