Student-Led Research Launches Food Pantry at Tufts University Health Sciences Campus

In September 2022, during a class discussion on food insecurity and student wellness, Anna Lubitz, D26, asked a simple question: Does our campus have a food pantry? The answer was no. Four years later, on March 30, Lubitz stood in the seventh-floor student lounge to celebrate the launch of the Tufts Boston Campus Health Sciences Food Pantry.

Lubitz’s classroom conversation became a research initiative. Working with faculty from the Wellness Committee, Lubitz and a team of collaborators surveyed students in 2023 and again in 2025. The findings were consistent and striking: 60 percent of dental students reported not having enough food, and 70 percent had already turned to food assistance programs like SNAP and WIC. The prevalence of food insecurity is a growing concern on university campuses throughout the country. 

"We talk about social determinants of health all the time in dentistry and medicine,” says Dr. Jonathan Stephens, assistant professor, oral and maxillofacial surgery and chief medical officer. He believes a robust learning environment should address the needs of the whole person, and that includes food security. “Being a student in these fields is so challenging—I can't imagine what it's like to also be hungry in the library late at night without access to food."

With support from Dean Nadeem Karimbux and generous funding from the Massachusetts Dental Society and Delta Dental of Massachusetts, Lubitz and the team moved from data to action. Faculty, staff, administrators, and students all played a role in bringing the pilot to life.

The pantry offers staple and single-serve items on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with anonymous access and a QR-code feedback system designed to shape a larger permanent program.

"It started as a conversation, then a dream—and now it's reality," Lubitz says. "This space is here to support you. No stigma. Just heart."