Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism
Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism Faculty
Gerhard Freund, M.D.,
Professor Emeritus
Professional Summary
Dr. Freund received his MD degree in 1951 from the Goethe
University in Frankfurt, Germany. After a rotating internship from
1951 to 1952 in Ottawa, Canada, he completed a three-year residency
in Internal Medicine at the University of Illinois College of
Medicine in Chicago in 1955 and a fellowship in Endocrinology at the
McGill University in Montreal, Canada in 1957. He then entered
private practice in Chicago, was board certified in Internal
Medicine and became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
In 1963 he joined the Faculty of the Department of Medicine at the
University of Florida. He advanced to full Professor of Medicine in
1975.
From 1965 to 1967 he was Associate Director of the Clinical Research Center. In 1976 he received a joint appointment in the Department of Neuroscience, joined the Graduate Faculty, served on several doctoral committees, and supervised post-doctoral fellows in his laboratory. From 1970 to 1999 he was Chief of the Endocrinology Section at the VA Medical Center. In 1999 Dr. Freund retired and was elected Professor Emeritus. He published his memoirs: The Sun Kept Rising: Adventures of an Immigrant, through Xlibris.com.
Clinical Interests and Activities
Dr. Freund practiced and taught general clinical medicine and endocrinology to medical students and house staff throughout his entire career at the University in outpatient clinics and hospital wards of the Department of Medicine.
Laboratory Research Summary
Dr. Freund’s research interests are focused broadly on relationships between the Central Nervous System and metabolism. Specifically, he has investigated the effects and interrelationships of chronic alcohol exposure, normal aging, Alzheimer’s Disease and their interaction with various types of synaptic receptors in rodent and human brains. From 1982 to 1987 he was scientific director of the NIH-funded Alcohol Research Center at UF and of the brain bank that was a component of it. A more detailed summary is available under the faculty listing of the UF Brain Institute: http://www.ufbi.ufl.edu/Dept/Faculty/Freund.html