Research/Areas of Interest:
Role of nutrition in oral health and disease
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, Florida State University, USA, 2006
- Master of Science, Florida State University, USA, 2003
- Bachelor of Science, Registered Dietition, USA, 2018
Biography
Dr. Tassabehji's is a licensed and registered dietitian (RDN, LDN) with a PhD in nutritional neuroscience. Her career to has focused on nutrition research and teaching, primarily in the area of trace minerals and neurogenesis and more recently in nutrition and oral health.
She has worked in a variety of nutrition settings both clinical (in-patient, ambulatory foodservice), and community service to optimize diet and nutrition for a wide array of populations {long term care facilities, school programs and women infant and child (WIC)]. Currently, Dr. Tassabehji is an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine where she teaches basic and applied nutrition to pre-doctoral and post-graduate dental students, with the goal of optimizing student nutrition knowledge and competence in patient diet assessment, education, and counseling for oral health promotion and disease prevention. She is also course director for the craniofacial biology course which is an integrated basic science course for incoming dental students.
She also serves as a preceptor for The Tufts Dental clinical rotation to the students in the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition combined Master of Science/Dietetic Internship program (MS/DI), a joint program with Tufts Medical Center Hospital. This national model program provides nutrition and dental students the opportunity to work together, especially with clinic patients. The goal of rotation is promoting understanding of each other's roles and helping facilitate further collaborations between the two professions.
Dr. Tassebehji has also published about dental curricular design (how to create an integrated course) given national presentations and serves on a number of professional organizations related to general and oral health nutrition including Food is Medicine Massachusetts (FIMMA) and Oral health alliance.
She lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling, dancing, and learning languages.
She has worked in a variety of nutrition settings both clinical (in-patient, ambulatory foodservice), and community service to optimize diet and nutrition for a wide array of populations {long term care facilities, school programs and women infant and child (WIC)]. Currently, Dr. Tassabehji is an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine where she teaches basic and applied nutrition to pre-doctoral and post-graduate dental students, with the goal of optimizing student nutrition knowledge and competence in patient diet assessment, education, and counseling for oral health promotion and disease prevention. She is also course director for the craniofacial biology course which is an integrated basic science course for incoming dental students.
She also serves as a preceptor for The Tufts Dental clinical rotation to the students in the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition combined Master of Science/Dietetic Internship program (MS/DI), a joint program with Tufts Medical Center Hospital. This national model program provides nutrition and dental students the opportunity to work together, especially with clinic patients. The goal of rotation is promoting understanding of each other's roles and helping facilitate further collaborations between the two professions.
Dr. Tassebehji has also published about dental curricular design (how to create an integrated course) given national presentations and serves on a number of professional organizations related to general and oral health nutrition including Food is Medicine Massachusetts (FIMMA) and Oral health alliance.
She lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling, dancing, and learning languages.