
Dr. Freedman is Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Associate Professor in the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School for Applied Social Sciences, and Associate Director of the Prevention Research Center for Health Neighborhoods (PRC) at CWRU where she also serves as Affiliated Faculty in the Center for Reducing Health Disparities. Dr. Freedman is a population health and social scientist with expertise in food access interventions in food insecure communities. She is currently co-PI of the R01 NIDDK-funded Future of Food in Your Neighborhood (foodNEST) study, a three-year quasi-experimental pragmatic trial assessing fruit and vegetable intake among participants with access to Hub 55, a new food venue opening in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood in Cleveland, a known food desert. Additionally, Dr. Freedman is PI of the FreshLink Study, the core research of the CDC-funded Prevention Research Center at CWRU and leads the Building Capacity for Obesity Prevention study in partnership with collaborators at the Ohio Department of Health and The Ohio State University, Cooperative Extension. Dr. Freedman’s latest research includes the development of evaluation technology to support nationwide implementation of healthy food incentive interventions. Dr. Freedman has extensive experience in nutrition-related community interventions and measuring outcomes through research collaborations with a range of community partners including federally qualified health centers, public housing authorities, Boys and Girls Clubs, and neighborhood associations. Dr. Freedman serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health and Social Work Research, is a merit-based member of the American Academy of Health Behavior, and is a past awardee (2011) of the NIH Loan Repayment Program in Health Disparities Research.
Recent Publications
- Lloyd, M, Amos, ME, Milfred-Laforest, S, Motairek, IK, Pascuzzi, K, Petermann-Rocha, F, Elgudin, Y, Nasir, K, Freedman, D, Al-Kindi, S et al.. Residing in a Food Desert and Adverse Cardiovascular Events in US Veterans With Established Cardiovascular Disease. Am J Cardiol 2023; 196 : 70-76. PubMed PMID:37094491 .
- Dong, W, Motairek, I, Nasir, K, Chen, Z, Kim, U, Khalifa, Y, Freedman, D, Griggs, S, Rajagopalan, S, Al-Kindi, SG et al.. Author Correction: Risk factors and geographic disparities in premature cardiovascular mortality in US counties: a machine learning approach. Sci Rep 2023; 13 (1): 4946. PubMed PMID:36973373 PubMed Central PMC10042810.
- Dong, W, Motairek, I, Nasir, K, Chen, Z, Kim, U, Khalifa, Y, Freedman, D, Griggs, S, Rajagopalan, S, Al-Kindi, SG et al.. Risk factors and geographic disparities in premature cardiovascular mortality in US counties: a machine learning approach. Sci Rep 2023; 13 (1): 2978. PubMed PMID:36808141 PubMed Central PMC9941082.
- Freedman, DA, Ciesielski, TH, Yamoah, O, Borawski, EA, Ross, KR, Nock, NL, Lee, EK, Dimitropoulos, A, Minnes, S, Burkhart, K et al.. Improving Surveillance and Epidemic Response in Ohio Childcare Settings. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022; 19 (24): . PubMed PMID:36554817 PubMed Central PMC9779310.
- Yamoah, O, Balser, S, Ogland-Hand, C, Doernberg, E, Lewis-Miller, C, Freedman, DA. "A win-win for all of us": COVID-19 sheds light on the essentialness of child care as key infrastructure. Early Child Res Q ; 63 : 113-120. PubMed PMID:36505942 PubMed Central PMC9721280.
- Dong, T, Harris, K, Freedman, D, Janus, S, Griggs, S, Iyer, Y, Nasir, K, Neeland, IJ, Rajagopalan, S, Al-Kindi, SG et al.. Food insecurity and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk in adults with diabetes. Nutrition 2023; 106 : 111865. PubMed PMID:36473415 PubMed Central PMC9851285.
- Gill, I, Shah, A, Lee, EK, Sommer, R, Ross, K, Bole, A, Freedman, D. Community Interventions for Childhood Asthma ED Visits and Hospitalizations: A Systematic Review. Pediatrics 2022; 150 (4): . PubMed PMID:36102121 .
- Motairek, I, Lee, EK, Janus, S, Farkouh, M, Freedman, D, Wright, J, Nasir, K, Rajagopalan, S, Al-Kindi, S. Historical Neighborhood Redlining and Contemporary Cardiometabolic Risk. J Am Coll Cardiol 2022; 80 (2): 171-175. PubMed PMID:35798451 .
- Vargo, L, Ciesielski, TH, Embaye, M, Bird, A, Freedman, DA. Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022; 19 (9): . PubMed PMID:35564371 PubMed Central PMC9101614.
- Lee, EK, Donley, G, Ciesielski, TH, Gill, I, Yamoah, O, Roche, A, Martinez, R, Freedman, DA. Health outcomes in redlined versus non-redlined neighborhoods: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Soc Sci Med 2022; 294 : 114696. PubMed PMID:34995988 .