Education

Medical Education
University of South Carolina School of Medicine, MD, 1988

Residencies
William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, 1992

Fellowships
William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, 1993

Specialties
Psychiatry-Forensic
Psychiatry-General

Board Certifications
American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, 1994
American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology - Forensic Psychiatry, 1994
Recertified in Forensic Psychiatry, 2013

Biography

Dr. Frierson is the Alexander G. Donald Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, South Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Music Degree and Medical Doctorate from the University of South Carolina and completed psychiatric residency and a forensic psychiatry fellowship at the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute. He is Past President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the largest organization of forensic psychiatrists in North America, and the South Carolina Psychiatric Association.  He received AAPL’s Award for Most Outstanding Teacher in a Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship in 2006 and the Seymour Pollack Award in 2016 for distinguished lifetime contributions to the teaching and educational functions of forensic psychiatry.  He has received the Steven Von Reisling Lecturer of Merit Award from the National College of District Attorneys. He is currently chair of the Forensic Psychiatry Certification Committee at the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and serves on the Review Committee for Psychiatry at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). He has authored 15 book chapters and over 50 peer reviewed articles. He is co-editor of the APA Textbook of Forensic Psychiatry, 3rd edition the APA Textbook of Suicide Risk Assessment and Management, and Malpractice and Liability in Psychiatry, available through Springer. In addition to clinical practice, Dr. Frierson has performed a wide variety of criminal and civil forensic evaluations during his career.