Eli Friedman

Who is Eli Friedman?

Eli A. Friedman attended New Utrecht High School, Brooklyn College, and the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center where he received an M.D. degree in 1957. In 1957, Friedman married Mildred Barrett-Lennard with whom he fathered three daughters: Amy Louise, Rebecca Alica, and Sara Jo. He served as Intern, Nephrology Fellow, and Senior Medical Resident at Harvard Medical School's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital from 1957 to 1961. After two years as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer for the United States Public Health Service's Communicable Disease Center, from 1961 to 1963, Friedman returned to SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, New York, where he is currently a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Medicine. Dr. Friedman was Chief of the Division of Nephrology in SUNY Downstate's Department of Medicine until 2009. [www.eli.friedman@downstate.edu].

In 1976, Friedman invented the "Suitcase Kidney," a portable dialysis machine scaled to fit a metal attache case that permits dialysis patients to be mobile performing their hemodialyses off site in hotel rooms or on ships. By being able to dialyze themselves, patients gained a large degree of freedom from large, centralized treatment centers enhancing their life quality. Exceptionally high liability insurance rates restricted the broad utilization of the device which still is limited in application.