Brief Biography

Dr. Friedman graduated from the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1985. He moved to Canada in 1987, spending three years as a general practitioner in rural Saskatchewan. He completed his residency training at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) from 1990-1994, and was appointed chief resident in his final year. He has worked as a general paediatrician on staff at SickKids since then, and was director of Inpatient Paediatric Medicine from 1997 until 2004, when he was appointed Division Head. He is past president of the Medical Staff Association at SickKids and represented the MSA on the SickKids Board of Trustees from 2004-2008.

Dr. Friedman has published over 40 articles in peer reviewed journals in the last 10 years, and is an Associate Editor of Paediatrics and Child Health. He has co-edited textbooks including The Hospital for Sick Children Atlas of Pediatrics (Current Medicine, 2005) and The Hospital for Sick Children Handbook of Pediatrics, 11th edition (Elsevier, 2009). He has also edited books on parenting, most recently Canada’s Toddler Care Book (Robert Rose, 2009), Canada’s Baby Care Book (Robert Rose, 2007), Caring for Kids: the Complete Canadian Guide to Children’s Health (Key Porter, 2006). These best-selling books are sold in many countries around the world.

Dr. Friedman was appointed to the examination board of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons for Paediatrics in 2006. He chairs the Canadian Paediatric Society’s Annual Conference Committee, and edits the regular ‘Clinician’s Corner’ column in the CPS journal, Paediatrics and Child Health.

Clinical Care Activities

Inpatient General Paediatrics

Complex Care Program

Areas of Specialty:

General Paediatrics

Academic Background

FRCPC
The Hospital for Sick Children, 1990-07-01 - 1994-06-30

MB ChB
University of Cape Town, 1979-08-01 - 1985-05-01

Research Interests

• Quality of in-patient care (complex care, hospitalist medicine, morbidity and mortality)

• Enterostomy tube feeding

• In-patient sickle cell disease management

• Dehydration

Achievements

1993 - Humanitarian Award, The Hospital for Sick Children

1998, 1999 - Clerkship Teaching Award, Runner-up, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto

2000, 2001, 2003 - Harry Bain Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching, Runner-up, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto

2001 - Inaugural winner, Award for Clinical Excellence in Paediatric Medical Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto

2001 - Humanitarian Award Nominee, The Hospital for Sick Children, Family Advisory Committee Award

2002, 2005 - Harry Bain Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto

Publications

Selected Publications

Mahant S, Friedman JN, Connolly B, Macarthur C: Tube feeding and quality of life in children with severe neurologic impairment.  Archives of Disease in Childhood 2009: 94(9): pp 668-73.

Rogovik A, Li Y, Friedman JN, Goldman R: Admission and length of stay due to painful vaso-occlusive crisis in children.  American Journal of Emergency Medicine 2009: 27(7): pp 797-801.  

Lieberman L, Kirby M, Ozolins L, Mosko J, Friedman JN: Initial presentation of unscreened children with sickle cell disease:  The Toronto experience.  Pediatric Blood & Cancer 2009: 53(3): pp 397-400.  

Berger E, Saunders N, Wang L, Friedman JN: Sickle cell disease in children: Differentiating Osteomyelitis from Vaso-Occlusive Crises? Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 2009: 163(3): pp 251-255.  

Goldman R, Friedman JN, Parkin PC: Validation of the clinical dehydration scale for children with acute gastroentereitis.  Pediatrics 2008: 122(3): pp 545-549.  

Beck C, Parkin P, Friedman JN: Pediatric hospitalist medicine: an overview and a perspective from Toronto, Canada.  Clinical Paediatrics 2008: 47(6): pp 546-8. 

Cohen E, Friedman JN, Nicholas DB, Adams S, Rosenbaum P: A home for medically complex children: The role of hospital programs.  Journal for Healthcare Quality 2008: 30(3): pp 7-15.  

Mahant S, Peterson R, Campbell M, MacGregor DL, Friedman JN: Reducing inappropriate hospital days on a general paediatric inpatient unit.  Pediatrics 2008: 121(5): pp e106B.  

Sy K, Mahant S, Taback N, Vajsar J, Chait PG, Friedman JN: Enterostomy tube placement in children with spinal muscular atrophy type 1.  Journal of Pediatrics 2006: 149(6): pp 837-9.  

MacDonald, NE, Ford-Jones L, Friedman JN, Hall, J: Preparing a manuscript for publication: A user-friendly guide.  Paediatrics and Child Health 2006: 11(6): pp 339-344.  

Friedman JN: The case for...writing case reports.  Paediatrics and Child Health 2006: 11(6): pp 343-344.  

Friedman JN, Pinard MS, Laxer RM: The morbidity and mortality conference in university-affiliated pediatric departments in Canada. The Journal of Pediatrics 2005: 146(1): p 1-2. PA

Dwight P, Macarthur C, Friedman JN, Parkin PC: Evaluation of a Staff Only Hospitalist System in a Tertiary Care, Academic Children's Hospital. Pediatrics 2004: 114(6): pp 1545-1549. C

Friedman J: Enterostomy Tube Feeding: The Ins and Outs. Paediatrics & Child Health 2004: 9 (10): pp 695-699. PA

Friedman J, Goldman R, Srivastava R, Parkin PC: Development of a clinical dehydration scale for use in children between 1 and 36 months of age. Journal of Pediatrics 2004: 145: 99201-207.

Friedman J, Ahmed S, Connolly B, Chait P, Mahant S: Complications associated with image guided gastrostomy and gastrojejunostomy tubes in children. Pediatrics 2004: 114(2).

Chow L, Friedman J, Restrepo R, Temple M, Chait P, Connolly B: Peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) fracture and embolization in the pediatric population. Journal of Pediatrics 2003: 142: pp 141-4.

Mahant S, Friedman J, Macarthur C: Renal ultrasound findings and vesicoureteral reflux in children with urinary tract infection. Arch Dis Child 2002: 86: pp 419-421.

Mahant S, To T, Friedman J: Timing of voiding cystourethrogram in the investigation of urinary tract infection in children. Journal of Pediatrics 2001: 139: pp 568-71.

Friedman J, Laxer R: Providing after hours on-call clinical coverage in the academic health sciences centres: the HSC experience. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2000: 163 (3): pp 298-299.