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.

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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:

  • Mei Chung, Doctoral and Postdoctoral Officer
  • Lisa Cho, Faculty Coordinator
  • Courtney King, Director of Business Operations
  • Mena Majeed, Academic and Faculty Affairs Officer and School contact for Interfolio access/training.

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 portrait image of Dr. Brooke Bell

Bio

Dr. Brooke M. Bell is broadly interested in health and food policy, food systems, climate change, and environmental justice. Her current work examines how food systems and policies can be leveraged and transformed to encourage eating behaviors that both (i) improve chronic disease outcomes and (ii) help mitigate climate change and its subsequent effects on human health. 

Education

Dr. Bell received her B.A. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Health Behavior Research (Public Health) from the University of Southern California, and she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Yale School of Public Health.

Bio

Dr. Shijun Gao is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Dr. Gao’s research interests include social network analysis, and consumer food choice, especially the impact of food labeling. At Tufts University, he works with two inter-related teams, one which is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture on the use of cellular agriculture (Cellular Ag Project), and another transdisciplinary effort focused on addressing major gaps in sustainable diets research and policy (Lasting Project).

Prior to joining Tufts University, Dr. Gao earned his Ph.D. in Agribusiness from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. In addition, he got his master’s degree in economics from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree in management from China Agricultural University.

Education

Ph.D., Business Administration (Agribusiness), Arizona State University

M.A., Economics, Vanderbilt University

B.A., Management, China Agricultural University

A portrait image of Travis Moore

Bio

Dr. Moore is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy within the Division of Nutrition Interventions, Communication, and Behavior Change at Tufts University and a Post-Doctoral Scholar within the Department of Civil Society and Community Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

At Tufts University, he works with the Catalyzing Communities team, a project of the ChildObesity180 initiative, to advance their mission and impact of scaling evidence-based obesity prevention strategies nationwide. He leads research on its unique, community-based systems dynamics approach to assess whether and how local, tailored health interventions can scale across nine partner communities. Dr. Moore also co-leads a health equity and community-engaged research fellowship for undergraduate and graduate students on the project.

Dr. Moore is committed to working with diverse communities to understand collaborative initiatives and their efforts to change individual behavior and to benefit their surrounding communities, particularly in the areas of health, mental health, and education. His work lies at the intersection of research, evaluation, practice, and advocacy, integrating complex systems science techniques with community-based research approaches in both domestic and international projects. His current focus is on developing and evaluating a community-based system dynamics intervention that promotes the use of research evidence to improve sexual and gender minority health outcomes.

Dr. Moore earned his PhD in Civil Society and Community Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BS in Premedical Biology and a MS in Counseling at Southern Methodist University. Prior to being hired to Tufts University, Dr. Moore was an Evaluation Specialist at the Center on Research and Evaluation at Southern Methodist University.

Education

  • PhD, Civil Society and Community Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • MS, Counseling, Southern Methodist University
  • BS, Premedical Biology, English Literature, Southern Methodist University

Bio

Dr. Elena Martinez is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University under the supervision of Dr. William Masters. Dr. Martinez is a food systems researcher with interdisciplinary training in science and policy related to agriculture, nutrition, public health, gender, and the environment. Her research focuses on the cost of healthy diets globally, including the non-market health and environmental impacts of food systems. 

At Tufts University, she works on the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) project, which aims to accelerate progress on tools, data, and capacity needed to guide evidence-based policy in agriculture, food systems, nutrition, and health. She also works on the Food Prices for Nutrition (FPN) project, which develops and shares methods for monitoring the cost and affordability of healthy diets globally.

Prior to joining Tufts University, Dr. Martinez worked as a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, where she focused on connections between agriculture, food systems, and nutrition; metrics for measuring empowerment; and antimicrobial use and resistance. 

Education

  • PhD, Agriculture, Food & Environment, Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
  • MS, Agriculture, Food & Environment, Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
  • MPH, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Tufts University School of Medicine
  • AB, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University

More information coming soon

More information coming soon