At UAB, Friedlander founded the Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Neurobiology and directed the Civitan International Research Center. At Baylor College of Medicine, he was Director of Neuroscience Initiatives and the Chair of Neuroscience. At Virginia Tech, Friedlander is the founding Director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, Vice President for Health Sciences and senior Dean for Research at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He is a Distinguished Service member of the AAMC, founding president of the Association of Medical School Neuroscience Department Chairs and a past President of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine.