Growing up in a family with Persian and Polish roots, Yasie Nejad ’20, ’26 appreciates how food brings everyone to the table.
“My upbringing gave me an early understanding that food is so much more than just what we eat,” says Nejad, who is from Salem, New Hampshire. “It carries identity, culture, comfort and community as well.”
As a graduate of UMass Lowell's Master of Public Health in Dietetics program, Nejad now understands the powerful role food can also play in improving health.
"During my first year of graduate school, my program director introduced us to Food is Medicine initiatives and the role nutrition can play not only in treating disease, but in preventing it and improving quality of life so people don't end up in the hospital," says Nejad, who also earned a bachelor's degree in biology from UMass Lowell.
She credits faculty with helping her connect her interests in medicine, nutrition and public health while encouraging her to pursue opportunities beyond the classroom.
"My experience at UMass Lowell has been transformative," says Nejad, who is working to become a registered dietitian nutritionist. "I've been fortunate to have professors and mentors who encouraged me to pursue research, leadership, public speaking and community outreach. I always felt supported and challenged to grow."
Nejad built on her classroom learning through internships, research and community outreach that expanded access to nutritious food. At an internship at Community Servings, an organization in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston that provides medically tailored meals, Nejad redesigned a nutrition education curriculum that is now used to teach medical students and residents. She also worked as a graduate research assistant at UMass Lowell's Center for Population Health (CPH), supporting a home-delivered ingredient meal kit and nutrition education program for low-income adults in Greater Lowell.
Across her clinical, community and research experiences, Nejad worked with patients managing chronic disease, individuals in rehabilitation and psychiatric care, students in public schools, older adults and community members facing barriers to accessing healthy foods.
“These experiences reinforced that improving health starts with meeting people where they are," says Nejad.
That philosophy also shaped her interest in developing innovative, community-based approaches that rethink the way in which health care is delivered. Through the UMass Lowell Innovative Fellows Training (LIFT) program, she developed a Food is Medicine Café model that combines medically tailored meals, nutrition education and preventive health care in a community-centered setting.
"UML helped me gain all of these experiences and turn my interests into a career where I can make a meaningful difference to people's lives," says Nejad.
Her leadership and service earned her several accolades. Nejad received the Chancellor's Medal for Community Service and was named the Massachusetts Dietetic Student of the Year.
Selected as the university's 2026 Graduate Commencement speaker, Nejad kept this honor to herself until she stood up to speak at the podium.
"Seeing my mom’s reaction when I walked up to the stage was one of my favorite moments," says Nejad. "It made the experience even more meaningful, because she's always supported me."
Looking back, Nejad says UMass Lowell helped her discover a career in which she can combine medicine, nutrition, service and advocacy.
"The coursework and community experiences gave me a much broader understanding of health care and showed me how important accessibility, prevention and trust are to improving health," she says.
