Dr. Eli Friedman to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award in Hemodialysis, Feb. 8
Jan 30, 2014
Brooklyn, NY – Eli A. Friedman, MD, distinguished teaching professor of medicine at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Hemodialysis (HD), February 8, 2014, at the Thirty-fourth Annual Conference on Dialysis, presented by the University of Missouri School of Medicine, at a ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia.
A Brooklyn native, Dr. Friedman received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Brooklyn College and received his medical degree from SUNY Downstate. He then spent four years at Harvard University’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital as an intern, resident, and nephrology fellow, learning the then new specialty of nephrology and transplant immunology. As a lieutenant commander in the United States Public Health Service, Dr. Friedman was recruited to the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), based in Atlanta, Georgia, with an appointment as assistant professor of medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine.
In 1963, Dr. Friedman returned to Downstate as assistant professor of medicine, where he established the first federally funded hemodialysis center linked to an organ (kidney) transplant facility in the United States. His hemodialysis patients at Downstate’s neighboring Kings County Hospital Center formed the American Association of Kidney Patients, for which he served as chair of the Medical Advisory Board.
Dr. Friedman has been president of the American and International Societies for Artificial Organs, and has received honorary memberships from kidney societies in Belgium, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, and Yugoslavia. In 2003, Dr. Friedman was elected president of the International Society for Geriatric Nephrology and Urology. He is the author of 530 scientific publications, which includes the editing of eleven books.
Dr. Friedman’s concern for medical ethics led to his chairing Downstate’s Institutional Review Board for more than a decade. His decision was fueled by the need to apply selection criteria to patients who would be offered life prolongation through hemodialysis, prior to its funding in 1972 by the United States Public Health Service.
Research interests pursued by Dr. Friedman have focused on both slowing the course of progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD) and easing patient adjustment to the burden of irreversible kidney failure during its major therapies of hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. He designed an artificial kidney within an attaché case that could simplify travel for dialysis patients. His current studies center on the possible application of orally ingested probiotic bacteria as therapy for kidney failure without the need for dialysis.
In 2010, Dr. Friedman received the New York Academy of Medicine’s Edward N. Gibbs Memorial Award and presented a lecture entitled “Pandemic Diabetic Nephropathy,” a major cause of kidney failure in the United States and throughout the world. He currently serves on Editorial Advisory Boards for Diabetes Care, the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and Transplantation Proceedings.
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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (SUNY) 64-campus system and the only SUNY AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough’s 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate’s exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.