Emeritus Professor (Research)
Adjunct Professor (Clinical)
Director – Clinical Trials
Areas of Interest
Ocular Surface Disease
Comparative Ocular Physiology
Ocular Pharmacology
Ocular Public Health
Clinical Trials
Education & Training
Research Fellowship (Pre-Medical School)
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (Miami, FL)
(FL Lions Eye Bank)
Medical School
University of Florida (Gainesville, FL)
Post-doctoral Research Fellowship
University of Florida (Gainesville, FL)
Glaucoma and Ocular Pharmacology
Internship
Duke University Medical Center
Residency
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (Miami, FL)
Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology Beth Friedland, MD, joined UNC Department of Ophthalmology teaching faculty as a comprehensive eye care specialist in March 2020. That year, the high-volume, regional ophthalmology and ocular surgery practice she founded in 1984 — Park Ophthalmology (Raleigh, NC) — was integrated into UNC Medical Center’s ophthalmology service lines. This academic medical center-private practice merger has been cited as instrumental to the significant growth that UNC Ophthalmology experienced in establishing an expansive, regional outpatient clinic footprint across the Triangle region in comprehensive eye care over several decades. Dr. Friedland served as Medical Director of UNC Park Ophthalmology until her retirement from clinical faculty in June 2025.
Dr. Friedland now serves as an adjunct clinical research faculty member. Her primary research interests include ocular surface optimization, dry eye pharmacology, toxicology of the eye and ocular pharmacology. She is an investigator and a sub-investigator on several studies examining ocular surface toxicity of cancer chemotherapeutic treatments. She also serves as onsite Principal Investigator for UNC Ophthalmology’s participation in Phase 1-4 clinical trials, including in the multi-center Ocular Herpes Zoster longitudinal study.
Dr. Friedland completed medical school at the University of Florida (UF), as well as a post-doctoral research fellowship at UF in Glaucoma and Ocular Pharmacology that earned her a National Research Service Award. Her pre-medical school research fellowship (glaucoma and cornea) and residency at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (Miami, FL) shaped a career path distinguished in treating a diversity of ophthalmic and ocular surgery patient cases in institutional and private practice and in advancing innovation-driven research.
