Dr. Friedlander is the Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery and the Walter E. Dandy Distinguished Professor of Neurological Surgery, Neurology, and Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Clinically, he focuses on the operative management of complex cerebrovascular disorders, Chiari Malformations, and brain tumors. Before joining UPMC, Dr. Friedlander was Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School and Vice Chair of Neurosurgery and associate director of cerebrovascular surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

During his long association with Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Friedlander earned his medical degree with honors, completed an internship in general surgery, and residency in neurological surgery. 

Dr. Friedlander is world renowned as both a neurosurgeon and a scientist and is one of a very select group of authors to have been invited by the New England Journal of Medicine to write three reviews, one basic science review (on mechanisms of neuronal cell death) and two clinical reviews (on management of arteriovenous malformations and of Chiari Malformations).

Dr. Friedlander's numerous awards include the most prestigious awards for trainees in neurosurgery from both the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons. In addition, he has received the Bayer Cerebrovascular Award and the International Charcot Prize for Motor Neuron Diseases. Dr. Friedlander is the recipient of the 2012 H. Richard Winn, MD, Prize from The Society of Neurological Surgeons. He is an elected member of the National academy of Medicine, The American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, American Academy of Neurological Surgeons, and The Society of Neurological Surgeons.  Dr. Friedlander was asked to serve in the National Advisory Council of the NIH’s National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.