Professor Friedman has been a Lecturer in Palaeobiology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford and tutor at St Hugh’s College since 2009.

Having earned a MPhil in Zoology from Cambridge and a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Chicago, his research focuses on the evolution of biological diversity within vertebrates.

He is particularly interested in using fossil evidence to understand the timing of major evolutionary events in the vertebrate tree of life, as well as the patterns by which modern animals came to acquire their distinctive anatomical features over geological timescales.

His research has focused on a range of topics related to Madagascar, including the origin of some of its endemic fish fauna and the deep evolutionary history of the remarkable coelacanth, an ancient survivor which today inhabits the Indian Ocean off the island’s western coast.

Publications

• Friedman, M. In press. Parallel evolutionary trajectories underlie the the origin of giant suspension-feeding whales and bony fishes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
• Anderson, P. S. L., Friedman, M., Brazeau, M. D. & Rayfield, E. J. 2011. Initial radiation of jaws demonstrated stability despite faunal and environmental change. Nature 476: 206-209.
• Friedman, M.  2010.  Explosive morphological diversification of spiny-finned teleost fishes in the aftermath of the end-Cretaceous extinction.  Proc. Roy. Soc. B 277: 1675-1683.  
• Friedman, M., Shimada, K., Martin, L. D., Everhart, M. J., Liston, J., Maltese, A. & Triebold, M. 2010. 100-million-year dynasty of giant planktivorous bony fishes in the Mesozoic seas. Science 327: 990-993.
• Friedman, M. & Brazeau, M. 2010. A reappraisal of the origin and basal radiation of the Osteichthyes. J. Vert. Paleont. 30: 36-56. 
• Friedman, M.  2009. Ecomorphological selectivity among marine teleost fishes during the end-Cretaceous extinction. PNAS 106: 5218-5223.
• Coates, M. I. Ruta, M. & Friedman, M. 2009. Ever since Owen: changing perspectives on the early evolution of tetrapods. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 39: 571-592.
• Friedman, M.  2008. The evolutionary origin of flatfish asymmetry.  Nature 454: 209-212.
• Friedman, M. 2007. Styloichthys as the oldest coelacanth: implications for early osteichthyan interrelationships. J. Syst. Palaeont. 5: 289-343.
• Friedman, M., Coates, M. I. & Anderson, P. 2007. First discovery of a primitive coelacanth fin fills a major gap in the evolution of paired fins and limbs.  Evol. Dev. 9: 329-337.