Michael Freeman, PhD

About Michael Freeman, PhD

Dr. Michael Freeman is the Ben Maltz Chair in Cancer Therapeutics at Cedars-Sinai. Dr. Freeman was formerly the David Retik Chair and the founding director of the Urological Diseases Research Center at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He is a widely recognized authority on the cell and molecular biology of urologic diseases. Dr. Freeman and his group have conducted pre-clinical studies on the role of cholesterol in prostate cancer, on hypertrophic signaling in bladder smooth muscle, molecular mechanisms of interstitial cystitis/pelvic pain syndrome, and a number of aspects of prostate and bladder cancer progression. Currently he and his group are attempting to understand the role of the amoeboid tumor cell phenotype in prostate cancer evolution to advanced disease. Dr. Freeman has been continuously funded by the NIH since the early 1990s, and he has held many grants from other federal agencies and private foundations. He has also served on many national advisory boards and is the recipient of a number of awards, including a MERIT Award from the NIH, and the John Lattimer and Distinguished Mentor Awards from the American Urological Association.

The research of Dr. Freeman focuses on urogenital tract physiology, with a primary focus on cancer progression to lethal disease. Prostate cancer is an area of strong emphasis. Freeman also has interest and substantial publication history in molecular studies of bladder cancer, breast cancer, smooth muscle regulation and dysfunction, and interstitial cystitis/pelvic pain syndrome. Dr. Freeman’s work has been published in a number of renowned academic journals including Nature Medicine, Cancer Research, and Cancers.