Note: The Center is open by appointment only but visitors are welcome with an advance phone call: 617-636-5275. Hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Frances Stern (1873-1947) became one of the first nutritionists in the United States. She focused her work on the relationships between nutrition, health, class and ethnicity and the effects of industrial work on health. She calculated the desirable calorie count for the family unit rather than the individual. Born to German Jewish immigrants in Boston, she was a lifelong learner. She studied Sanitary Chemistry with Ellen Richards at MIT, social work at Simmons College and economics at the London School of Economics. She co-founded the Louisa May Alcott Club in the South End for immigrant children and was recruited by the Red Cross in France during World War I. The Frances Stern Nutrition Center is part of the Tufts Medical Center.
