A nutrition researcher and senior administrator on standing up for what you believe in
“Creating an environment that is healthy and allows people to be their best selves: that’s what’s most meaningful to me,” said Erin Hennessy, associate professor at the Friedman School. Photo: Alonso Nichols
My first two years as a Tufts undergrad (and aspiring physician), I was Goldilocks; I kept trying things—exploring clinical settings, working in a bio lab—only to discover they didn’t fit.
But junior year, as a favor to a friend, I took Nutrition 101.
I was a science major who didn’t need the requirement. Plus, I was not a morning person (the class met at 8 a.m.). But that intro to nutrition ignited something in me. Suddenly, I was doing all the recommended reading on top of the required texts. Nutrition helped me, as a community health student, to ‘connect the dots’ between individual behavior and population-level change.
I had discovered early on how where you live impacts your health and well-being; if you know the movie A Civil Action, which chronicles the link between a town’s contaminated water supply and higher risk of childhood leukemia, then you know my hometown. Growing up in Woburn, Mass., my parents forbade us to drink tap water. But that experience also showed me a community bringing attention to injustice—and how important it is to stand up for what you believe in.
My dad instilled the Golden Rule in me. To me, that also means speaking up when others don’t have a voice—and pointing out issues and working to be part of the solution. I’ve built a career that does just that: working alongside communities to create new knowledge to effect change at all levels.
I’ve been lucky to have been guided by so many amazing women: grade-school teachers who saw something in me, faculty members who opened doors for me. The opportunities they gave me set off a series of virtuous cycles, encouraging me to keep going.
I want to pay that forward. One of my priorities is to champion others, to help get them launched, and to be as pivotal for up-and-coming colleagues as my then-senior colleagues were in my career. Creating an environment that is healthy and allows people to be their best selves: that’s what’s most meaningful to me.
—Erin Hennessy, J99, N03, MG03, NG10, director of ChildObesity180, associate professor, and dean for research strategy, Gerald J. and Dororthy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
Our Tufts is a series of personal stories shared by members of the Tufts community and featured on both Tufts Now and Instagram.
