Simon Friedman

Simon Friedman is a Curators' Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from UCSF and completed NIH postdoctoral training at Caltech. His laboratory develops biological applications for drug targeting and light-controlled therapeutic systems.

Research focuses on macromolecular chemistry applications including light-activated RNA interference (LARI), telomerase inhibition strategies, and photoactivated insulin depots. His team combines synthetic chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology to address biomedical challenges.

Honors include multiple Teacher of the Year awards and UMKC's highest research recognition. Publications appear in Angewandte Chemie, Nucleic Acids Research, and Science Advances, with research featured in The Economist and New York Times.