Deborah Freeland, M.D.

Deborah Freeland, M.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and a member of its Geriatric Medicine Division. She specializes in geriatrics with a focus on home-based primary care, advance care planning, intergenerational programming, and aging policy.

Dr. Freeland earned her medical degree at UT Southwestern Medical School. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and then returned to UT Southwestern for advanced training through a fellowship in geriatrics.

Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, she joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2021.

Dr. Freeland is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Academy of Home Care Medicine, the American College of Physicians, and the American Geriatrics Society (AGS). She’s also a member of the AGS Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP) Combined Medicine-Geriatrics Pathway Work Group and a leader in the National Home-Based Primary Care Learning Network, which seeks to improve the quality of care for homebound older adults.

She is also active in medical student, resident, and fellow training and co-leads an elective course that offers students early exposure to caring for older adults in the home and hospital settings.

She has delivered numerous lectures and presentations related to her areas of expertise.

In 2020, she received the Johns Hopkins Institute for Excellence in Education Program Award.

Medical School

UT Southwestern Medical School (2017)

Residency

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (2020), Internal Medicine

Fellowship

UT Southwestern Medical Center (2021), Geriatric Medicine

Featured Publications

The GIMboree Experience: Enhancing Joy in Outpatient Medicine.

Freeland DG, O'Rourke PD, J Grad Med Educ 2020 Jun 12 3 348-349

Disease-specific advance care planning interventions for older adults

Freeland DG, Wu DS Curr Geri Rep 2019 12-20

Clinical evaluation of brief cognitive assessment measures for patients with severe dementia.

Dixon JS, Saddington DG, Shiles CJ, Sreevalsan KP, Munro CA, Rosenberg PB, Int Psychogeriatr 2017 07 29 7 1169-1174

The Majority of 9,729 Group A Streptococcus Strains Causing Disease Secrete SpeB Cysteine Protease: Pathogenesis Implications.

Olsen RJ, Raghuram A, Cantu C, Harrell-Hartman M, Jimenez F, Lee S, Ngo A, Rice KA, Saddington D, Spillman H, Valson C, Flores AR, Beres SB, Long SW, Nasser W, Musser JM Infect. Immun. 2015 Sep

• Program Award
  Johns Hopkins Institute for Excellence in Education (2020)
• Randy Barker Medical Group Award
  Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (2020)
• Primary Care Consortium Outstanding Primary Care Resident
  Johns Hopkins University (2019)
• Howard K. Rathbun Award for Clinical Excellence
  Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (2018)
• Schein Medical Student Award in Geriatric Medicine
  UT Southwestern Medical Center (2017)

• American Academy of Home Care Medicine
• American College of Physicians
• American Geriatrics Society