Robert  M.  Friedlander , M.D.

Robert M. Friedlander, M.D. is vice chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He is also professor of Neurosurgery) at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and performed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (Neurosurgery). He is an associate neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital and is also on the consulting staff at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. His clinical specialties include aneurysms and vascular malformations, brain tumors, carotid disease, cerebrovascular disease, Chiari malformation, microvascular decompression, and radiosurgery. Dr. Friedlander's research focuses on mechanisms of apoptosis, or programmed cell death. He and his team are investigating ways to stop or slow the progression of cell death in Huntington's disease, ALS, and stroke. He was the first to demonstrate the functional role of apoptotic pathways in a number of neurologic diseases. He and his team have reported success with using pharmacological interventions to reduce apoptosis in mouse models of neurological disease. He is a member of numerous professional societies and is widely published in his field.