Dr. Leonard Friedland, Vice President, Director Scientific Affairs and Public Health, GSK Vaccines, is a pediatrician and research scientist who is passionate about vaccines. He spends his days helping people understand the science of vaccines and complex ideas about how vaccines help to improve public health and the lives of patients. He is also a licensed pediatrician in the state of Pennsylvania.
Following a rewarding academic career in teaching and patient care, he joined GSK in 2003 to focus his efforts on vaccination and public health. Dr. Friedland has held many positions in clinical research and development with GSK since 2003, specializing in infectious disease vaccination.
Prior to his work at GSK, Dr. Friedland was Division Chief, Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine. Dr. Friedland studied medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and conducted his residency in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and his fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, also in Philadelphia.
He has published more than 50 peer reviewed articles during his career, and many book chapters on healthcare and vaccination topics.
He is an active volunteer as pediatrician with teams that perform pro bono cleft lip, palate and other reconstructive surgeries to improve the lives of children and their families around the world. Twice a year his team now works in Guatemala City, where over the course of 5 days of surgeries, 75 children get new smiles and their lives transformed! He also volunteers as a pediatrician at Puentes de Salud, a nonprofit organization promotes the health and wellness of South Philadelphia’s rapidly growing Latino immigrant population.
He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, served as the Alternate Industry Representative to the FDA Vaccines and Related Biologics Product Advisory Committee and currently is a member of the FDA Allergenic Product Advisory Committee, and is currently the Industry Representative Member on the Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Advisory Committee.