Stefan Friedrichsdorf, MD
Dr. Stefan Friedrichsdorf is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Pain, Palliative and Integrative Medicine at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland.
As the medical director of the Stad Center for Pediatric Pain, Palliative and Integrative Medicine he proudly leads one of the most comprehensive programs of its kind in the country, which received the prestigious ChildKind International pain relief certification and the Joint Commission Palliative Care Certification.
Dr. Friedrichsdorf sees pediatric patients both inpatient and in outpatient clinics. He is the physician lead for the systemwide “Benioff Children’s Hospitals Comfort Promise: We promise to do everything possible to prevent and treat pain. For every child. Every time.” aiming to reduce pain and anxiety caused by needle procedures. In 2024 he was recognized as a ‘Leader’ by Time Magazine in the “100 most influential people in health” edition. He received the “Elizabeth Narcessian Award for Outstanding Educational Achievements in the Field of Pain” by the American Pain Society and the “Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award”.
He was associate editor of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2013-2020, the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) / National Cancer Institute (NCI) multisite study on the creation, implementation and evaluation of the Pediatric Palliative Care Curriculum “Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (EPEC)-Pediatrics”, which so far trained 2,131 clinicians from 122 countries. In 2008 he founded and since then directs the Pediatric Pain Master Class, a unique week-long intensive course for interdisciplinary health professionals, which so far has trained 1,238 clinicians from 67 countries.
Dr. Friedrichsdorf has presented more than 850 lectures about pediatric pain medicine, palliative care and integrative medicine in over 30 countries on all six continents and in 2024 served as Fulbright Specialist in Pediatric Pain Medicine in Malaysia. He has a track record of research and publications in the field, including more than 75 peer-reviewed articles and contributions to more than 25 books on the subject. He is the Immediate past-president of the Special Interest Group on Pain in Childhood of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP).
Dr. Friedrichsdorf received his MD degree (Dr. med.) from the Medical University of Lübeck, Germany, completed his 5-year pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital Datteln, Germany, and undertook his fellowship in Pediatric Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at the University of Sydney, Australia (Children's Hospital at Westmead). He is double boarded in Pediatrics in Germany and the United States, a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics, certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and trained in pediatric clinical hypnosis.