Expert Directory

Deborah I. Friedman, MD, MPH, FAAN, FAHS

Professor of Neurology and Ophthalmology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, TX

Deborah I. Friedman, MD, MPH, FAAN, is a professor of neurology and ophthalmology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she directs the Headache and Facial Pain and the Cerebrospinal Fluid Dynamics programs. She is board certified in neurology and headache medicine. She has a masters in public health degree from the University of Rochester with a focus on clinical research. She served on the executive and steering committees of the Neuro-Ophthalmology Research and Disease Investigator Consortium (NORDIC) and the Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension Treatment Trial. 

Dr Friedman received her undergraduate degree in engineering science at the Georgia Institute of Technology and her medical degree at Tulane University School of Medicine. She completed her neurology residency at Baylor College of Medicine and a 2-year neuro-ophthalmology clinical and research fellowship at the University of Southern California. Prior to joining UT Southwestern, she served on the faculty at SUNY Upstate Medical University and the University of Rochester.

She is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Headache Society, the American Neurological Association, and the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society. She is the past chair of the American Academy of Neurology Headache and Facial Pain Section, served on the American Headache Society Board of Directors, and is a past president and board chair of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society. She has been elected to the “Best Doctors in America” yearly since 1998 and the U.S. News & World Report Top Doctors since 2011. 

Dr Friedman’s publications include more than 125 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 22 book chapters. Many of the articles are related to headache disorders, including migraine and idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Her key interests are disorders of intracranial pressure, cluster headache, and migraine.