This interview is one in a series of interviews with the 2025 recipients of the ACGME Awards. These awardees join an outstanding group of previous honorees whose work and contributions to graduate medical education (GME) represent the best in the field. They will be honored at the 2025 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, taking place February 20-22, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee.
2025 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Jeffrey Friedrich, MD, MC, FACS is a plastic surgeon and the Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Surgery at the University of Washington.
ACGME: How did you become involved in medicine, and in academic medicine specifically?
Dr. Friedrich: I knew early on that medicine was for me: I volunteered at our local hospital in Texas when I was 15 and there was no turning back. I discovered plastic surgery by accident—after my first year of medical school, I was accepted into a summer research program at MD Anderson Cancer Center and picked a project in a plastic surgery lab because it sounded interesting. That sparked my journey into this specialty, and later into hand surgery. Soon after arriving at the University of Washington (UW) for residency, I knew that academic medicine was my home, and I have been fortunate to continue to pursue that path at UW.
ACGME: What does this award mean to you?
Friedrich: It comes at the end of a 13-year tenure as residency director and at the outset of my transition to vice chair for education for our department, so it symbolically marks the turning of a page. Ultimately, the meaning of the award is almost more than I can comprehend, that it was from the testimonials and support of people that I have trained makes me gracious beyond words. The residents and students with whom I have worked are the most inspirational people I have ever met, and their support for this award is a wonderful gift.
ACGME: What do you feel is the most important job the program director has?
Friedrich: There are so many things in an education and training environment that make it difficult for residents to learn and achieve their educational goals. I felt my most important job was to be an advocate and protector of learners so they can advance their education and not be burdened with things that take away from that. This is not to say that residency should not be hard—it very much is, and that is part of the education. But the other facets of health care systems have resident well-being and learning lower on the list of priorities.
ACGME: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Friedrich: Watching first-hand the progress residents make, even in tiny increments. And seeing their ultimate progress as they become ethical, compassionate doctors with patient care skills that are better than mine.
ACGME: What is the most challenging?
Friedrich: Helping residents through difficult times during their educational program and training. Life does not stop when one is in residency, and the opportunity to be there for a resident when life is hard is challenging (but also fulfilling).
ACGME: What advice do you have to residents or fellows who may be interested in pursuing a career in academic medicine?
Friedrich: If you have any interest in academic medicine, or more specifically in residency education, do it—because that interest is the only pre-requisite. You’ll be hugely fulfilled. Be organized, be an advocate, and be willing to ask and answer tough questions. The possibilities are limitless.
Learn more about the ACGME’s Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award and nominate a deserving program director for the 2026 Award – nominations are due by March 12, 2025.