Bruce A. Friedman, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, attended Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, from 1959 until 1962, and then the University of Michigan Medical School, from which he was graduated in 1966. Following a pathology internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1966-1967, he returned to the University of Michigan Medical School for a four-year residency in the Department of Pathology which he completed in 1971.

After serving as a pathologist in the U.S from 1971 until 1973, he once again returned to the University of Michigan Medical School as an Assistant Professor of Pathology in 1973. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1976 and to Professor of Pathology in 1980. From 1973 until 1983, he served as the Associate Director of the Blood Bank at the University of Michigan Hospitals. His research interests during these years revolved around the study of blood utilization in the United States and systems for reducing the use of unnecessary hospital blood bank services.

In 1982, Dr. Friedman was appointed the Director of Pathology Data Systems at the University of Michigan Hospitals, the computing support unit of the Department of Pathology, and he continued in this role until his retirement in 2006. From 1996-2001 he served as Director of Ancillary Information Systems for the University of Michigan Hospitals, which includes oversight over the radiology, pharmacy, pathology, radiation oncology, respiratory care, and home health information systems. He continues this effort in a consultative role with Medical Center Information Technology.

He is the director of a continuing education symposium on Automated Information Management in the Clinical Laboratory (AIMCL) that is devoted to the topic of laboratory information systems and automated information management in the clinical laboratories, which has been held at the University of Michigan Medical School for over 20 years.