Dr. Karl E. Friedl
Senior Research Scientist Performance Physiology
U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
Dr. Karl E. Friedl received his Bachelor of Art in 1976 and Master of Art in 1979 degrees in zoology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Ph.D. degree in biology in 1984, through the Institute of Environmental Stress in the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Friedl retired from thirty years of active-duty service in the Army in 2013, where he had last served as Director of the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Previously, he served as Commander, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine; Director, Army Operational Medicine Research Program; Principal Investigator, USARIEM; and Chief of Physiology and Biostatistics Service, Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
Dr. Friedl's research has been focused on extending limits of human physiological performance. He has made specific contributions in the areas of endocrine regulation in semi starvation, physiological effects of anabolic steroids, body composition methods and standards, physiological monitoring, and metrics of research return on investment. He has published nearly 200 original articles, book chapters, technical reports, and commentaries, and made over 250 scientific presentations at national and international meetings. He is a co-inventor on an Army patent for a system for remote neuropsychological assessment. He has served as chair of numerous NATO and Army panels and committees, and served on program review committees for NASA, National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans' Affairs, the Wellcome Trust, and university thesis committees in Iceland, Italy, France and Finland. During his Army research management assignments Friedl was responsible for administration of $3.5B in appropriated RDT&E funds and organized major initiatives such as the Defense Women's Health Research Program, Technologies for Metabolic Monitoring, Bone Health and Military Medical Readiness, Gulf War Illnesses research program, and the Army's Parkinson's research program.
Dr. Friedl is a Professor (adjunct) in the Department of Neurology at University of California, San Francisco. He also currently serves as Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
This year he was recognized with a Professional Career Achievement Award from the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. He has been recognized with national awards from both the Parkinson's Action Network (Udall Award) and the Alzheimer's Association (Ronald and Nancy Reagan Award) for his advocacy of "dual use" research that has helped to advance research for the soldiers as well as serving the needs of neurodegenerative disease patients. He has also received a Founder's Award from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, the Diabetes Research Leadership Award from the Diabetes Technology Society, the Society of Armed Forces Medical Laboratory Scientists Outstanding Research and Development Scientist Award, the French National Order of Merit (Chevalier), the Legion of Merit (2 Oak Leaf Cluster), and the Order of Military Medical Merit.