Jeff Friedrich, MD, was recognized by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as a 2025 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award recipient. The award recognizes program directors who have fostered innovation and improvement in their residency and fellowship programs and served as exemplary role models for residents and fellows.
Friedrich is a plastic surgeon at Harborview Medical Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital specializing in hand and wrist surgery. He also has many roles in the UW School of Medicine, including vice chair for education in the Department of Surgery, professor of surgery in the Division of Plastic Surgery, professor of Orthopedics and adjunct professor of Urology. He was program director for the UW Medicine Plastic Surgery residency program from 2011 to 2024 and is also a graduate of the program.
Friedrich is one of 10 program directors selected this year out of the more than 13,000 residency and fellowship programs accredited by the ACGME.
“We are fortunate to have Dr. Friedrich as a dedicated and inspiring role model of surgical education,” says Douglas Wood, MD, Henry N. Harkins professor and chair of the Department of Surgery.
Friedrich joins an impressive group of UW Medicine colleagues who have received ACGME awards. In fact, out of over 900 ACGME institutions, the School of Medicine is one of the leading institutions in the country for the number of recipients of the ACGME Courage to Teach, Courage to Lead and Program Coordinator Excellence Awards.
Friedrich will be honored during the 2025 ACGME Annual Educational Conference in February 2025.
