Established in 1993 by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Image Credit: Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia Two King Fahd Professorships, one in molecular medicine and the other in pediatric oncology, represent the mutual interest and support between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States. The nation was governed since 1982 by KING and PRIME MINISTER FAHD BIN ABD AL-AZIZ AL SAUDI. King Fahd, the 11th son of the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, served as minister of education before ascending to the throne. He died in 2005.


Alan David Friedman, M.D., is the King Fahd Chair in Pediatric Oncology and a Professor of Oncology and Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Friedman investigates mechanisms through which normal proteins control the formation of bone marrow stem cells and how these stem cells then develop into neutrophils and monocytes. He is also studying how normal bone marrow cells become transformed into acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Dr. Friedman is attempting to build on his basic research to develop useful clinical applications and is pursuing small molecules that interfere with the action of leukemic proteins as potential novel therapies for AML. He is investigating means to expand normal blood stem cells to benefit patients with marrow failure or those many patients receiving chemotherapy who would benefit from blood product support to avoid anemia, bleeding, and infections. Alan Friedman graduated from the Harvard Medical School. He did his Pediatric internship and residency at Boston Children's Hospital and completed his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Johns Hopkins. During his fellowship he did post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Steven McKnight at the Carnegie Institution Department of Embryology located on the Johns Hopkins undergraduate campus.