Nick Freudenberg
Senior Faculty Fellow
Degree Info
PhD and a Masters degree in Health Policy and Management from the Columbia University School of Public Health
Bio
Nicholas Freudenberg is a Senior Faculty Fellow with the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute and Distinguished Professor of Public Health at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy. His research and scholarship focuses on diet-related chronic diseases, urban health, the evaluation of complex urban interventions, and the role of the food industry in health and disease. For 30 years he has assisted NYC organizations to plan, implement, and evaluate policies, programs, and advocacy campaigns to improve community health and reduce health inequities, and he was the co-founder, with Janet Poppendieck, of the NYC Food Policy Center at Hunter College.
Publications
Berger E, Larsen J, Freudenberg N, Jones HE. Food insecurity associated with educational disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic for college students and the role of anxiety and depression. Journal of American College Health. 2024 Jul 23;72(6):1684-7.
Burgess R, Nyhan K, Freudenberg N, Ransome Y. Corporate activities that influence population health: A scoping review and qualitative synthesis to develop the HEALTH-CORP typology. Globalization and Health. 2024 Nov 9;20(1):77. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-024-01082-4
Burgess RC, Nyhan K, Dharia N, Freudenberg N, Ransome Y. Characteristics of commercial determinants of health research on corporate activities: A scoping review. Plos one. 2024 Apr 26;19(4):e0300699. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0300699
Freudenberg N. A Public Health Perspective on Anxiety in Anxiety Culture: The New Global State of Human Affairs, eds. Allegrante JP, Hoinkes U, et al. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024, pp. 123-137.
Freudenberg N. The Role of Social Movements in Reducing Harmful Corporate Practices; Comment on “National Public Health Surveillance of Corporations in Key Unhealthy Commodity Industries–A Scoping Review and Framework Synthesis”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management. 2024; 13, 8664. https://www.ijhpm.com/article_4662_1a9fb6fa404960b62f2257c4559365f0.pdf
Sanborn J, Jones HE, Manze M, Twiste T, Freudenberg N. The Cumulative Impact of Unmet Essential Needs on Indicators of Attrition: Findings from a Public University Population-Based Sample of Students in the Bronx, NY. Journal of Urban Health. 2024 Aug;101(4):764-74.
Freudenberg N, Crosbie E. Teaching the Commercial Determinants of Health The commercial determinants of health. in Maani N, Petticrew M, Galea S, eds, Oxford University Press, 2023, pp. 319-329.
Freudenberg N, Israel B. Integrating Public Health Research and Teaching With Social Justice Activism: Lessons From 80 Years of Practice. Health Education & Behavior. 2023 Jun;50(3):301-9.
Freudenberg N. Framing Commercial Determinants of Health: An Assessment of Potential for Guiding More Effective Responses to the Public Health Crises of the 21 st Century. The Milbank Quarterly. 2023 Apr 1;101(S1):83-98.
Freudenberg N. Integrating social, political and commercial determinants of health frameworks to advance public health in the twenty-first century. International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services. 2023 Jan;53(1):4-10.
Friel S, Collin J, Daube M, Depoux A, Freudenberg N, et al. Commercial determinants of health: future directions. The Lancet. 2023 Apr 8;401(10383):1229-40.
Gilmore AB, Fabbri A, Baum F, et al. and Freudenberg N, Friel S, Hofman KJ. Defining and conceptualising the commercial determinants of health. The Lancet. 2023 Apr 8;401(10383):1194-213.
Manze M, Watnick D, Freudenberg N. How do childcare and pregnancy affect the academic success of college students?. Journal of American College Health. 2023 Feb 12;71(2):460-7.
Nazmi A, Condron K, Tseng M, et al. Freudenberg N, Bianco S. SNAP participation decreases food insecurity among California Public University Students: a quasi-experimental study. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. 2023 Jan 2;18(1):123-38.
Anaf J, Baum F, Fisher M, et al., and Freudenberg N. Assessing the health impacts of transnational corporations: a case study of Carlton and United Breweries in Australia. Globalization and Health. 2022 Dec;18(1):1-22.
Barnhill A, Ramírez AS, Ashe M, et al Freudenberg N, Grier SA, Watson KE, Kumanyika S. The racialized marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages: perspectives and potential remedies. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. 2022;50(1):52-9.
Berger E, Larsen J, Freudenberg N, Jones HE. Food insecurity associated with educational disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic for college students and the role of anxiety and depression. Journal of American College Health. 2022 Jun 22:1-4.
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.
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.
Freudenberg N. Responding to Food Industry Initiatives to Be” Part of the Solution”: Comment on”‘Part of the Solution’: Food Corporation Strategies for Regulatory Capture and Legitimacy”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management. 2022 Dec;11(11):2740.
Krieger J, Freudenberg N. To Protect Young Children’s Health, Limit Marketing and Ubiquity of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages. American Journal of Public Health. 2022 Oct;112(S8):S770-2.
Lacy-Nichols J, Freudenberg N. Opportunities and limitations of the ultra-processed food framing. Nature Food. 2022 Dec;3(12):975-7.
Lee K, Freudenberg N. Public health roles in addressing commercial determinants of health. Annual Review of Public Health. 2022 Apr 5;43:375-95.
Ramaswamy M, Freudenberg N. Health promotion in jails and prisons: An alternative paradigm for correctional health services. Public health behind bars: From prisons to communities. 2022:219-38.
D’Angelo AB, Grov C, Johnson J, Freudenberg N. Breaking Bad Patents: Learning from HIV/AIDS to make COVID-19 treatments accessible. Global public health. 2021 Oct 3;16(10):1523-36.
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, 2021.
Fraser KT, Shapiro S, Willingham C, Tavarez E, Berg J, and Freudenberg N. What We 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. SSM – Population Health, 2021.
Freudenberg N. A public health agenda for the 2020s. American Journal of Public Health. 2021 Oct;111(10):1757-60.
Jones HE, Manze M, Ngo V, Lamberson P, Freudenberg N. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students’ health and financial stability in New York City: Findings from a population-based sample of City University of New York (CUNY) students. Journal of Urban Health. 2021 Apr;98:187-96.
Moon JR, Willingham C, Gjevukaj S, Freudenberg N. COVID-19, food insecurity, and diet-related diseases: Can syndemic theory inform effective responses? A case study. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 2021 Sep 16;10(4):55-71.
Vignola EF, Nazmi A, Freudenberg N, 2021. What Makes Ultra-Processed Food Appealing? A critical scan and conceptual model. World Nutrition 12, 136–175. https://doi.org/10.26596/wn.202112483-135
Vignola EF, Nazmi A, Freudenberg N. What makes ultra-processed food appealing? A critical scan and conceptual model. World Nutrition. 2021 Dec 31;12(4):136-75.
El-Mohandes A, Ratzan SC, Rauh L, Ngo V, Rabin K, Kimball S, Aaron B, Freudenberg N. COVID-19: A Barometer for Social Justice in New York City. American Journal of Public Health 2020; e1-e3.
Lee K, Freudenberg N. Addressing the commercial determinants of health begins with clearer definition and measurement. Global Health Promotion 2020; 27(2): 3–5
Freudenberg N, Nestle M. A Call for a National Agenda for a Healthy, Equitable, and Sustainable Food System. American Journal of Public Health 2020; e1-e3.
Bernstein MF, Cinnick SE, Franzosa E, Murrman MK, Freudenberg N. Rationale and design of distance-based training to persuade local health department employees that addressing social determinants of health is their job, too. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. 2019 Sep 1;25(5):448-53.
D’Agostino EM, Freudenberg N. Population Thinking Instruction in High Schools: a Public Health Intervention with Triple Benefits. Journal of Urban Health. 2019 Dec 1;96(6):902-11.
Freudenberg N, Goldrick-Rab S, Poppendieck J. College students and SNAP: The new face of food insecurity in the United States. American Journal of Public Health. 2019 Dec;109(12):1652-8.
Freudenberg N. The capitalist diet: Energy-dense and profitable. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 2019 Jul 9;9(1):1-2.
Freudenberg N, Cohen N, Poppendieck J, Willingham C. Ten Years of Food Policy Governance in New York City: Lessons for the Next Decade, 45 Fordham Urb. L.J. 951 (2018). Available at: ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol45/iss4/2
Freudenberg, N., Willingham, C., & Cohen, N. (2018). The Role of Metrics in Food Policy: Lessons from a Decade of Experience in New York City. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 8(B), 191-209. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2018.08B.009
Cohen, N., Poppendieck, J., & Freudenberg, N. (2017). Food Justice in the Trump Age: Priorities for Urban Food Advocates.
Cohen, N., Freudenberg, N., & Willingham, C. (2017). Nourishing NYCHA: Food Policy as a Tool for Improving the Well-Being of New York City’s Public Housing Residents.
Palmedo, P. C., Dorfman, L., Garza, S., Murphy, E., & Freudenberg, N. (2017). Countermarketing alcohol and unhealthy food: An effective strategy for preventing noncommunicable diseases? Lessons from tobacco. Annual review of public health, 38, 119-144.
Baum FE, Sanders DM, Fisher M, Anaf J, Freudenberg N, Friel S, Labonté R, London L, Monteiro C, Scott-Samuel A, Sen A. Assessing the health impact of transnational corporations: its importance and a framework. Global Health. 2016 Jun 15;12(1):27.
Delobelle P, Sanders D, Puoane T, Freudenberg N. Reducing the Role of the Food, Tobacco, and Alcohol Industries in Noncommunicable Disease Risk in South Africa. Health Educ Behav. 2016 Apr;43(1 Suppl):70S-81S.
Freudenberg N. Charting the Pathways of Power That Undermine Public Health. Am J Public Health. 2016 Jul;106(7):1160-2.
Freudenberg N. Healthy-food procurement: using the public plate to reduce food insecurity and diet-related diseases. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2016 May;4(5):383-4.
Freudenberg N, Silver M, Hirsch L, Cohen N. 2016. The good food jobs nexus: A strategy for promoting health, employment, and economic development. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 2016; 6(2): 283–301.
Mongiello LL, Freudenberg N, Jones H, Spark A. Many College Students Underestimate Diabetes Risk. J Allied Health. 2016 Summer; 45(2):81-6.
Parra DC, de Sá TH, Monteiro CA, Freudenberg N. Automobile, construction and entertainment business sector influences on sedentary lifestyles. Health Promot Int. 2016 Aug 25. pii: daw073.
Smith K, Dorfman L, Freudenberg N, Hawkins B, Hilton S, Razum O, Weishaar H. Tobacco, Alcohol, and Processed Food Industries – Why Do Public Health Practitioners View Them So Differently? Front Public Health. 2016 Apr 11;4:64.
Weishaar H, Dorfman L, Freudenberg N, Hawkins B, Smith K, Razum O, Hilton S. Why media representations of corporations matter for public health policy: a scoping review. BMC Public Health. 2016;16:899.
Atkinson S, Freudenberg N. What role for cities in food policy? Public Health. 2015 Apr;129(4):293-4.
Freudenberg N, Atkinson S. Getting food policy on the Mayoral table: a comparison of two election cycles in New York and London. Public Health 2015; April, 129(4):295-302.
Freudenberg N, Franzosa E, Sohler N, Li R, Devlin H, Albu J. The State of Evaluation Research on Food Policies to Reduce Obesity and Diabetes Among Adultsin the United States, 2000-2011. Prev Chronic Dis. 2015 Oct 29;12:E182.
Leung MM, Fu H, Agaronov A, Freudenberg N. Diet-related determinants of childhood obesity in urban settings: a comparison between Shanghai and New York. Public Health. 2015;129(4):318-26.
Libman K, Freudenberg N, Sanders D, Puoane T, Tsolekile L. The role of urban food policy in preventing diet-related non-communicable diseases in Cape Town and New York. Public Health 2015; 129(4): 327-335.
Tsui EK, Wurwarg J, Poppendieck J, Deutsch J, Freudenberg N. Institutional food as a lever for improving health in cities: the case of New York City. Public Health 2015; April, 129(4): 303-309.
Freudenberg N, Tsui E. Evidence, power, and policy change in community-based participatory research. Am J Public Health. 2014; 104(1):11-4.
Freudenberg N. Reducing inequalities in child obesity in developed nations: What do we know? What can we do? Rev Port SaúdePública [Review of Portuguese Public Health] 2013; 31(1):115–122.
Tsui EK, Deutsch J, Patinella S, Freudenberg N. Missed Opportunities for Improving Nutrition Through Institutional Food: The Case for Food Worker Training. Am J Public Health. 2013; 103(9):e14-20.2013
Freudenberg N. The manufacture of lifestyle: the role of corporations in unhealthy living. J Public Health Policy. 2012; 33(2):244-56.
Loureiro MI, Freudenberg N. Engaging municipalities in community capacity building for childhood obesity control in urban settings. Fam Pract. 2012; 29 Suppl 1:i24-30.
Tsui E, Bylander K, Cho M, Maybank A, Freudenberg N. Engaging youth in food activism in New York City: lessons learned from a youth organization, health department, and university partnership. J Urban Health. 2012; 89(5):809-27.
Freudenberg N, McDonough J, Tsui E. Can a Food Justice Movement Improve Nutrition and Health? A Case Study of the Emerging Food Movement in New York City. J Urban Health. 2011
Freudenberg N, Olden K. Getting serious about the prevention of chronic diseases. Prev Chronic Dis. 2011; 8(4):A90.
Freudenberg N, Tsui E. Training new community health, food service, and environmental protection workers could boost health, jobs, and growth. Health Aff (Millwood). 2011; 30(11):2098-106.
Freudenberg N, Libman K, O’Keefe E. A Tale of Two ObesCities: The Role of Municipal Governance in Reducing Childhood Obesity in New York City and London. J Urban Health. 2010;87(5):755-770.2017
