Katy Tomaino Fraser
Director of Evaluation

Degree Info
Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH); Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Registered Dietitian (RD); Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics / Sodexo Dietetic Internship, Allentown, PA. Bachelor of Science (BS) in Human Nutrition, Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Religion; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ
Bio
Katy Tomaino Fraser is a specialist in nutrition evaluation with a decade of experience developing and evaluating clinical, community-based, and large-scale public health interventions as well as local, state and federal food policy. Fraser coordinates the Institute’s portfolio of evaluation work, including evaluations of food access and security programming at NYC organizations such as GrowNYC, West Side Campaign Against Hunger, City Harvest, and others. Fraser led the Institute’s Community Food Evaluation Workshop, an effort to increase evaluation capacity at community food organizations through trainings, technical assistance in evaluation. Fraser’s recent projects include an evaluation of an online grocery shopping program in the Mississippi Delta, research on NYC food workers, environmental scan of predatory marketing in NYC, and analysis of the impact of COVID-19 policy on food benefit access and food security. Fraser was named to the 40 under 40: The Rising Stars in NYC Food Policy Class of 2021.
Publications
Ilieva, R. T., Fraser, K. T., & Cohen, N. (2023). From multiple streams to a torrent: A case study of food policymaking and innovations in New York during the COVID-19 emergency. Cities, 136, 104222. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275123000343
Ilieva, R.T., Fraser, K.T. and Cohen, N., 2023. From multiple streams to a torrent: A case study of food policymaking and innovations in New York during the COVID-19 emergency. Cities, 136, p.104222.
Chong, Valerie Peter; James, Charita Johnson; Fraser, Katherine Tomaino; Brown, Rhonda; Ignacio, Karla; Willingham, Craig; Cohen, Nevin; and Freudenberg, Nicholas. Protecting Those Who Feed Us: How Employers, Government, and Workers’ Organizations Can Protect the Health, Safety, and Economic Security of Food Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, March 2022.
Ferguson MC, Bartsch SM, O’Shea KJ, Thomas DM, Moran TH, Solano Gonzales M, Wedlock PT, Nyathi S, Morgan M, Chin KL, Scannell SA, Hertenstein DL, Domino M, Ranganath K, Adam A, Fraser KT, Fraser A, Lee BY. The Potential epidemiologic, clinical, and economic impact of requiring schools to offer physical education (PE) classes in Mexico City. PLOS ONE, 2022.
Fraser KT, Ilieva RT, Chong VP, Shulman E, Willingham C, Freudenberg N, and Cohen N. Increasing Community and Public Control and Ownership of New York City’s Food System. Policy Recommendations for a Stronger, Healthier, More Just, and Sustainable Food System in NYC. New York Food 2025, a collaboration of The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center; The Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College Columbia University; and, The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. March 2022
Fraser KT, Ilieva RT, James CJ, Chong VP, Shapiro S, Willingham C, Roberts C, and Freudenberg N. Use of an Environmental Scan to Assess Density, Content, and Variation of Predatory Food and Beverage Marketing in New York City. Health and Place, 2022.
Fraser KT, Vignola EF, Chong VP, Ng Y, Ilieva RT, Willingham C, Cohen N, and Freudenberg N. Ensuring All NYC Food Workers Have Safe Working Conditions, the Right to Organize, and Sufficient Pay and Benefits. New York Food 2025, a collaboration of The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center; The Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College Columbia University; and, The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. March 2022.
Fraser KT, Willingham C, Ilieva RT, Freudenberg N and Cohen N. Reducing Promotion and Ubiquity of Unhealthy Food in Community, Institutional, and Retail Settings to Reduce the Staggering Burden of Diet-Related Disease in NYC. Policy Recommendations for a Stronger, Healthier, More Just, and Sustainable Food System in NYC. New York Food 2025, a collaboration of The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center; The Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College Columbia University; and, The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. March 2022.
What we can learn from U.S. food policy response to crises of the last 20 years – Lessons for the COVID-19 era: A scoping review. Fraser KT, Shapiro S, Willingham C, Tavarez E, Berg J, and Freudenberg N. Available online 11 November 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100952
Towards a NYC COVID-19 Food Response in 2021. The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, The Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education, and Policy, and The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, 2021.
Fraser KT, Berg J, Dickinson M, Lamberson P, Ledda J, Poppendieck J and Freudenberg N. How to reduce hunger and food insecurity at colleges serving low-income students in New York State: The benefits of expanding student enrollment in SNAP. CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, New York, 2021.
Fraser KT, Pereira J, Poppendieck J, Tavarez E, Berg J, and Freudenberg N. Pandemic EBT in New York State: Lessons from the 2019-2020 Academic Year and Recommendations for 2020-2021 and Beyond. CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute and Hunger Free America, New York, 2021.
Freudenberg N, Fraser KT, and Ng Y. Time for a Reset for New York City Food Policy; Here’s 6 Key Steps. Gotham Gazette. August 13, 2021. https://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/10703-reset-new-york-city-food-policy-six-key-steps
Fraser KT, Pereira J, Poppendieck J, Tavarez E, Berg J, and Freudenberg N. Pandemic EBT in New York State: Lessons from the 2019-2020 Academic Year and Recommendations for 2020-2021 and Beyond. CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute and Hunger Free America, New York, 2021.
Freudenberg N, Fraser KT, and Ng Y. Time for a Reset for New York City Food Policy; Here’s 6 Key Steps. Gotham Gazette. August 13, 2021. https://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/10703-reset-new-york-city-food-policy-six-key-steps
Online Grocery Shopping by NYC Public Housing Residents Using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits: A Service Ecosystems Perspective. Cohen N, Fraser KT, et al. Sustainability, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114694
Risk Factors for Physical Inactivity Among Children With and Without Asthma Living in Peri-Urban Communities of Lima, Peru. Namburar S, Checkley W, Flores-Flores O, Romero KM, Fraser KT, Hansel NN, Pollard SL. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2019-0553
New York Food 20/20: Vision, Research, and Recommendations During COVID-19 and Beyond. The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, The Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education, and Policy, and The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, 2020.
Cohen N & Fraser KT. Farms at NYCHA: Final Report. New York, NY, USA: CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, 2019
Cohen N & Fraser KT. Farms at NYCHA: Interim Progress Report II. New York, NY, USA: CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, 2019.
Moderate weight loss in obese and overweight men preserves bone quality. Pop LC, Sukumar D, Tomaino K, et al. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2015. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.114.088534
Association between serum 25-Hyrdoxy Vitamin D levels and blood pressure among adolescents in two resource limited settings in Peru. Tomaino K, et al. American Journal of Hypertension, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpu264