Assistant Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Dr. Deborah Friedman is a licensed clinical psychologist in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Psychiatry, Mental Health Coordinator (MHC) for the MGH Pediatric and Adult CF Programs, and Assistant Professor of Psychology (Psychiatry) at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Friedman joined the faculty at MGH in 2007 after completing a two-year NIMH-funded clinical research fellowship in pediatric health psychology at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is co-founder and director of the MGH Pediatric Behavioral Medicine Program, providing clinical, research, and training activities focused on improving pediatric health, resilience and coping with acute and chronic illness in children, adolescents, and their families. She also provides direct outpatient care to youth and families in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic, and to youth and adults with CF as MHC and member of the MGH CF Program's interdisciplinary team for over 9 years. Dr. Friedman's research, which has been funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., focuses on developing mental health and palliative care interventions that can be integrated into CF care. With input from key stakeholders, she has authored a CF-specific CBT-based intervention for the prevention of depression and anxiety for adults coping with CF (CF-CBT), and co-leads a multi-center randomized controlled trial of this intervention (Friedman/Georgiopoulos, co-PI). A blended-care, internet-delivered model for adults (eHealth CF-CBT) has been developed in English and Dutch that is currently piloting in the Netherlands (Verkleij, PI). With additional stakeholder input from adolescents with CF and caregivers, Dr. Friedman has authored a version of CF-CBT that is developmentally targeted for adolescents with CF with resources for caregivers (CF-CBT-A), and a multi-center pilot study is underway. Dr. Friedman also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.