Dr. Julie A. Freischlag
By Susan R. Wente
Feb. 19, 2026
Today we honor a vascular surgeon, educator and senior executive whose leadership has shaped academic medicine and guided Wake Forest’s educational health system through an era of remarkable growth and innovation. For nearly four decades, she positively impacted the culture of medical education as the first female surgeon appointed to key leadership positions in highly ranked programs. In December 2025, she retired as CEO and chief academic officer of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, chief academic officer and executive vice president of Advocate Health, and executive vice president of health affairs at Wake Forest University. I am pleased to recognize Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag as a 2026 Medallion of Merit recipient.
Dr. Freischlag served as the immediate past dean of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and previously as vice chancellor and dean at the UC Davis School of Medicine. Throughout her career, she achieved a series of historic milestones for women in surgery. She was the first woman in the nation to serve as chair of surgery, appointed chief of surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She was also the first — and remains the only — woman to serve as chief of vascular surgery at UCLA’s medical school. She is the only woman ever appointed president of the Society for Vascular Surgery, and she was the first woman to serve as president of the Association of VA Surgeons. Her additional leadership roles include serving as president of the American College of Surgeons and as immediate past chair of the board of directors of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
An esteemed vascular surgeon specializing in thoracic outlet syndrome, Dr. Freischlag has written more than 400 original papers and nearly 60 textbook chapters. For 10 years, she served as editor of JAMA Surgery, a prominent peer-reviewed journal. Her numerous awards include the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Vascular Surgery, an achievement award from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Trailblazer Award from the Society of University Surgeons.
Dr. Freischlag’s visionary leadership has had a profound impact on the next generation of physicians. As a surgeon, educator and mentor, she models collegial respect, professionalism and work-life balance. Her enduring legacy of compassionate care is reflected in Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s new critical care tower, named in her honor. The Freischlag Tower provides advanced technologies, innovative treatments and expanded critical care services in a setting designed for comfort and healing.
For ensuring that Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist is positioned to serve the future health needs of our community, for encouraging women in medicine to effect culture change through leadership and for imbuing Wake Forest’s educational health system with a commitment to academic excellence, groundbreaking research and compassionate care, Wake Forest confers its highest honor, the Medallion of Merit, on Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag on this nineteenth day of February, two thousand twenty-six.