Deborah Friedman BSc pht MMgmt
Assistant Dean Student Affairs, Schools of ISoN, SPOT, SCSD
Co-Director The WELL Office
Associate Professor Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery
Prof. Deborah Friedman was appointed in October 2016 to the newly created position of Assistant Dean Student Affairs for the Schools of Nursing, Physical & Occupational Therapy, and Communication Sciences & Disorders. During her 1st year she has met with faculty, learners, leadership, and campus resources to understand what programs, services, and resources currently exists and contributes to wellness and a healthy learning environment. She has sought to identify gaps, needs, ideas, challenges, strengths, and opportunities for working together to facilitate learners personal, professional, and academic success in both the academic and clinical settings. Prof. Friedman plans to continue to work with and encourage the different Schools within the Faculty of Medicine to promote innovative ways of including wellness and a healthy learning environment in daily life, curriculum, and in engagement of learners & faculty. She has successfully advocated for a full time Wellness Consultant to be available to learners at all training levels from the Schools in the Faculty of Medicine. She is also pleased to be collaborating with the Assistant Deans of UGME and PGME to ensure the availability of evening counselling appointments. Along with the WELL Office Team she looks forward to working closely with learners and faculty in developing different workshops, and creating other innovative and inter-professional healthy learning opportunities.
Prof. Friedman is also currently the Montreal Children's Hospital, MUHC Trauma Director, and Director of the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. She is well known for her leadership and contributions to pediatric & adolescent trauma care and injury prevention at local, regional, provincial, and Canada-wide levels.It is under her dynamic leadership that the Montreal Children's Hospital has received repeated provincial designations as a Tertiary level Trauma Centre and Neurotrauma Centre of Expertise. She has successfully brought together the medical, surgical, nursing, rehabilitation, psychosocial, and administrative components of all types and severity of trauma care under one large inter-professional system. She has been a pioneer in the field of youth concussion and played an integral role in the development of the different programs, clinics, educational resources, and out-reach done by the MCH Trauma Centre. Her areas of clinical interest, knowledge sharing and community out-reach have been in: the prevention, education, and management of concussions in youth; inter-professional team building; and in the development of systems of care in pediatric and adolescent trauma. Through her teaching, publications, clinical expertise, outreach and regular collaboration with the media Prof. Friedman has raised awareness and interest in issues related to trauma in children and teens.
She herself is a McGill graduate with degrees from the Faculty of Medicine School of Physical & Occupational Therapy and the Desautels School of Management. Throughout her professional life Prof. Friedman has received numerous awards and acknowledgements for her work. In 2013 she received the inaugural Global Alumni Award of Merit from the School of Physical & Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. Prof. Friedman looks forward to promoting a positive supportive environment that builds resilience, effectiveness, and excellence in the new generation of health professionals.