Dr. Deborah Friedman is a staff psychologist in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Assistant Professor of Psychology (Psychiatry) at Harvard Medical School. She co-directs the Pediatric Behavioral Medicine Program, dedicated to promoting specialized evidence-based psychological care integrated within pediatric medical specialist programs to improve adjustment and quality of life for youth and families coping with chronic illness.  Dr. Friedman is also the consulting psychologist for the MGH Pediatric and Adult Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Programs.  She provides psychotherapy to youth and adults as a member of the interdisciplinary CF care team. She also treats youth with a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems in the the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinic, specializing in working with children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, and those coping with chronic pain and medical illness.

Dr. Friedman graduated with a BA from Brown University. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Loyola University Chicago and then completed a two-year NIMH-funded clinical research fellowship in pediatric health psychology at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. 

Dr. Friedman's grant-funded research has centered on adjustment to chronic illness, and specifically developing mental health and palliative care interventions that can be integrated into existing systems of care in CF.  Dr. Friedman has authored a CF-specific CBT-based intervention for the prevention of depression and anxiety in adults coping with CF (CF-CBT). This intervention is currently being investigated in a multi-site randomized controlled trial, and adapted into versions that can be internet-delivered and developmentally tailored for adolescents coping with CF. Dr. Friedman also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.