Roy Freeman

Seminars in Neurology is delighted to have Roy Freeman as the Guest Editor of this issue on the autonomic nervous system. He is world renowned for his contributions to our understanding of the neurophysiology of the autonomic nervous system, and he has assembled the leaders in this field to provide their expertise for this issue of Seminars in Neurology.

Dr. Freeman was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He received his medical education at the University of Cape Town and received his neurology training in the Longwood Avenue Neurology Program, which includes the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, Children's Hospital, and West Roxbury V.A. Hospital. He was Chief Resident in Neurology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital and a Fellow in Neurology at the New England Deaconess Hospital. Dr. Freeman is presently Associate Professor of Neurology in the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Freeman's major research interests are in the neurophysiology of the autonomic nervous system, the treatment of orthostatic hypotension, the treatment of autonomic nervous system dysfunction, neurological complications of diabetes, and the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of peripheral nerve disorders and neuropathic pain. He is the principal investigator on studies funded by the National Institutes of Health on the pathophysiology of orthostatic intolerance and hypoglycemia and the autonomic nervous system.

Dr. Freeman regularly provides regional, national, and international lectures on testing the autonomic nervous system, disorders of the autonomic nervous system (especially orthostatic hypotension and neurally mediated syncope), and the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic autonomic neuropathy. Dr. Freeman has published extensively in journals on the diagnosis and treatment of autonomic failure and has contributed a great deal to our understanding of the autonomic nervous system in the extensive reviews he has provided to major textbooks such as Course and Treatment of Neurological Diseases, Primer on the Autonomic Nervous System, Encyclopedia of the Neurological Sciences, and Internal Medicine. He has also made many contributions to Seminars in Neurology, including his articles on “Autonomic Epilepsy” in 1995, “Erythromelalgia, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, and Livedo Reticularis” in 1992, and “Autonomic Neurodermatology” in 1992.

Dr. Freeman served as President of the American Autonomic Society from 1998 to 2000 and was Chairman of the Section of the Autonomic Nervous System in the American Academy of Neurology from 1996 to 1998. He has served for several years as an Abstract Reviewer for the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting and as an Abstract Reviewer and Section Chair on several occasions for the International Meeting of the American Autonomic Society.

In this issue of Seminars in Neurology, Dr. Freeman provides us with a clear approach to the complex topic of the autonomic nervous system and its disorders and treatment. We are terribly grateful for the hard work of Dr. Freeman and all of the authors of this issue of Seminars in Neurology for their tremendous contributions.