Tomeka Frieson Named 2023 December Alum Speaker.

Tomeka Frieson
Tomeka Frieson Named 2023 December Alum Speaker
Frieson, a recent MPH graduate, will speak to December graduates at a reception on December 8.
Tomeka Frieson (SPH’23) has been selected as the alum speaker for the December Graduate Reception on December 8.
Originally from Birmingham, Ala., Frieson studied ecology, evolutionary biology, and the history of science, medicine, and public health at Yale University before moving to Boston to study CAPDIE (Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation) and maternal and child health at SPH.
While a student, Frieson served as a practice fellow with the Maternal and Child Health Center of Excellence. She played a key role in developing, executing, and promoting the Partnering for Equity and Empowerment through Research and Support program (PEERS—an acronym Frieson devised). Through PEERS, she interviewed patients in the pediatric emergency department at Boston Medical Center to identify unmet health needs and provide referrals to appropriate resources. Frieson presented her work with PEERS at the 2023 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Expo in Atlanta, Ga.
Frieson also found time while a graduate student and MCH fellow to serve as a student ambassador, teaching assistant (twice), and president of the student organization Students of Color for Public Health, as well as continue her undergraduate research on support for Black individuals who breast/chestfeed in New Haven, Conn.
Since graduating from SPH, Frieson moved to New Haven to work full-time as the breast/chestfeeding initiative coordinator for the Community Alliance for Research & Engagement, where she organizes the research institute’s initiatives to support and advocate for health equity for Black and Latine individuals who breast/chestfeed. Frieson also collaborates with community health workers on a local projects to address the social determinants of health, such as efforts to supply nutritious foods and food education at food pantries serving the area. In her free time, Frieson says she participates in local book clubs and is studying in preparation to apply to medical school as an MD/PhD candidate.
“I am incredibly grateful to return to BUSPH to share some words with December graduates,” says Frieson. “This program passes by in the blink of an eye, so I encourage all of the graduating students to take some time to rest, and then to reflect on the incredible journey they just had and the bright possibilities they have ahead of them to make a lasting impact on our world.”
In the spring, Frieson was the winner of the 2023 Leonard H. Glantz Award for Academic Excellence and was awarded her MPH at the spring convocation. Her faculty nominators said they were in awe of her exceptional intellect, generosity of spirit, and dedication to service. They reported that she stands out as one of the top students they ever worked with in their combined decades of experience in academia. Both noted that Frieson aspires to pursue an MD/PhD to become a public servant and scholar activist. “[Frieson] has the substance and grit to back up her aspirations. She is one I will watch for years to come,” wrote one faculty nominator.
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