Dr. Jennifer Frediani is an Assistant Professor, research track, and joined the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing in February 2018. She completed a research postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine and a teaching fellowship at the Center for the Study of Human Health, Emory College of Arts and Sciences. She received her PhD in Nutrition Science from Emory University, a Master’s of Science in Exercise Physiology and a Bachelor’s of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics both from Georgia State University. She has been a registered dietitian since 2003 and a Certified Exercise Specialist since 2006. At Emory, Dr. Frediani’s research involves the study of weight neutral lifestyle interventions involving diet and exercise for cardiometabolic disease. She is also the Director of Adult Clinical Studies for the RADx (Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics) program at Emory and Georgia Tech. This involves novel diagnostic devices for infectious diseases like COVID-19 and influenza, and wearables for expectant parents.

Frediani JK, Smith TW, Spires S, Moreland P, Thompson G, Henderson D, Smith S, Maxwell R, Hoffman LM, Johnson LN, Bryant X, Jacobs T, Geiger D, Wilde G, Weber MB, Akintobi TH, Narayan KMV, Quarells RC. Lessons learned from community partnerships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Community Perspective Progress in Community Health Partnerships. 2023;online ahead of print.

Frediani JK, Parsons R, McLendon KB, Westbrook AL, Lam WA, Martin GS, Pollock NR. The new normal: Delayed peak SARS-CoV-2 viral loads relative to symptom onset and implications for COVID-19 testing programs. Clin Infect Dis. 2024;78(2):301-307. PMCID: PMC10874267

Frediani JK, Li J, Bienvenida A, Higgins MK, Lobelo F. Metabolic Changes after a 24-week soccer-based adaptation of the Diabetes Prevention Program in Hispanic males: a one-arm pilot clinical trial. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. 2021; 3:757815. PMCID: PMC8632771*

I have demonstrated teaching expertise in the functional area of Nutrition in a variety of forums. I thoroughly enjoy teaching students, especially in nutrition where they are learning both for themselves and their future patients. My teaching philosophy focuses on a student-centered learning environment. I strive to create learning scenarios where the students are undertaking group projects while I move between groups facilitating discussions. I believe students learn best when they are actively engaged in their own learning through discovery. I purposefully design my courses to be accessible to all learners. No single assignment or exam weighs any more than the other, so those students not as strong in test taking can present their learning in other ways.

Nutrition is a broad discipline that cuts across many chronic conditions and fields of study. This has allowed me to use my leadership and expertise in measurement of dietary intake and nutrition and exercise interventions to collaborate with NHWSON, Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH), and other university colleagues to set research objectives and achieve external funding since finishing my PhD in 2014. As a clinical trialist, I have been invited to initiate and manage several large clinical trials from lifestyle and risk factor modification, nutrition, to COVID-19-related interventions over my 17 years at Emory.

2021 Georgia Center for Diabetes Translational Research Pilot Project of the Year

2020 Best Football is Medicine Program in the World, Football is Medicine 2020

2019 MANA Poster and Lightning Talk Award