UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The College of Health and Human Development Alumni Society will honor its 2018 award winners at the Nov. 2 College of Health and Human Development Alumni Society Board Awards Dinner.
All recipients are graduates of the College of Health and Human Development and have distinguished themselves in their careers and service.
Alumni Recognition Award
Harriet Kuhnlein, who graduated in 1961 with a bachelor’s degree in home economics, is professor emerita at McGill University’s School of Human Nutrition and Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment.
She has dedicated her career to working with indigenous populations. Her groundbreaking work with indigenous people started with studies on the nutrition and environmental health of the Hopi in Arizona. She has since studied the First Nations, Inuit and Metis cultures of Canada, and more than 40 communities in North America, Central and South America, Asia, India, Africa and Oceania. Her work with these populations focuses on understanding the cultural issues around food and the environment and engaging local participation to record accurate data on food use, collect food samples for analysis, and improve health by more effectively using these foods.
Her efforts have paved the way for generations of researchers to improve the lives of indigenous peoples by working with communities to help advance knowledge about their traditional foods and food practices.
Kuhnlein has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of British Columbia and McGill University, where she developed courses on community and public health nutrition and nutrition of indigenous people.
Kuhnlein has received numerous awards and distinctions. She is a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition and a Fellow of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences; she received the John Arthur Hildes Circumpolar Health Medal, the Earl Crampton Award for Distinguished Service in Nutrition from McGill University, and most recently a Fulbright Award as Specialist in Global/Public Health at Massey University in New Zealand.
She received her master’s degree in food and nutrition from Oregon State University, and her doctoral degree in nutritional sciences from the University of California at Berkeley.
The Alumni Recognition Award recognizes College of Health and Human Development alumni who have demonstrated professional excellence and exemplary volunteer community involvement in a health and human development field.
Alumni Service Award
Brett Feldman, who graduated in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, is the director of Street Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California and serves as the vice chair of the International Street Medicine Institute. He has practiced homeless medicine for 12 years and founded three programs, including the DeSales University Free Clinic, Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) Street Medicine in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California Street Medicine in Los Angeles, California.
In 2017, Feldman and LVHN hosted the 13th annual International Street Medicine Symposium in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He also has served on the Lehigh County/Allentown Joint Commission to End Chronic Homelessness. His efforts resulted in a homelessness screening tool used in the emergency department that can yield information about the number of homeless individuals within a given vicinity. This information is then used to justify additional resources for care.
Feldman is the recipient of several service awards, including the Pennsylvania Society of Physician Assistants Humanitarian of the Year award, LVHN Walking on Water Award, and the Lehigh Valley Healthcare Hero Award. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, CNN, the Associated Press, and Telemundo. "Close to Home: Street Medicine," a PBS documentary featuring Feldman and the street medicine program that he founded, was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2018.
In addition to his bachelor’s degree from Penn State, Feldman earned his master’s degree in physician assistant studies from DeSales University.
The Alumni Service Award recognizes College of Health and Human Development alumni who have positively impacted the quality of people's lives through service to others above and beyond their call of duty.
Emerging Professional—Undergraduate Degree Award
Sara Quinteros-Fernandez, who graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in hotel, restaurant, and institutional management, is a pediatric clinical dietitian at the University of Maryland Medical Systems Department of Pediatric Genetics and Metabolism in Baltimore, Maryland, where she calculates and prescribes special diets to children with metabolic disorders. She also is founder and CEO of QuinFer LLC & Little Chef’s Kitchen, which teaches K-12 students about healthy eating and cooking. With support from grant funding, she develops lessons and interactive culinary demonstrations utilizing local and seasonal ingredients. The program has been implemented at multiple schools, including in Syracuse, New York, and Napa, California.
After receiving her degree in hospitality management, Quinteros-Fernandez studied culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America, and then went on to receive her master’s degree in nutrition sciences and dietetics at Syracuse University. While studying at Syracuse University, Quinteros-Fernandez and Little Chef’s Kitchen partnered with Dr. Edwin Weeks Elementary School to teach cooking and nutrition to students as part of an after-school program.
She is currently negotiating a partnership with DC Greens, a program that uses food education, access and policy to advance food justice in the nation’s capital, as well as the program’s Produce Rx sector, which allows medical providers to prescribe fresh fruits and vegetables to families who are unable to afford them as part of their medical care.
Quinteros-Fernandez has been a recipient of a number of awards and scholarships, including the International Food Services Executives Association Worthy Goal Scholarship, the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality Scholarship, and the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Margret E. Terrell National Graduate Fellowship.
The Emerging Professional–Undergraduate Degree Award recognize graduates of the past ten years who have demonstrated professional excellence and/or exemplary voluntary community involvement in the health and human development professions.