Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), DFSVS, MAMSE, is chief executive officer and chief academic officer of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, chief academic officer and executive vice president of Advocate Health, and executive vice president for health affairs at Wake Forest University. As a member of the executive leadership team, she is responsible for the academic core of the Advocate Health enterprise. As CEO and chief academic officer of Wake Forest Baptist, she has the overall responsibility for the health system’s clinical, academic and innovation enterprises and its annual operating budget of more than $4 billion. She is the immediate past dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

With more than 15 years of experience, Freischlag joined Atrium Health in October 2020, when Atrium underwent a strategic combination with Wake Forest Baptist Health (WFBH) and Wake Forest School of Medicine. She has led education and training programs at top medical schools in her role as professor and chair of surgery and vascular surgery departments. Freischlag also has more than 30 years of experience leading patient-care services as chief of surgery or vascular surgery at nationally ranked hospitals. Previously, she served as professor, chair of the surgery department and surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Additional leadership positions held throughout her career include vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC Davis.

A practicing vascular surgeon, Freischlag is an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of thoracic outlet syndrome which can require a specialized surgical procedure. She continues to evaluate and treat thoracic outlet syndrome patients and evaluates their results in a registry. Freischlag has received numerous teaching and achievement awards, including an achievement award from the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Her national leadership includes serving as the 2021-2022 president of the American College of Surgeons and serving as a former governor and secretary of the Board of Governors and a regent and past chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons. She is the past president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and the Society for Vascular Surgery Foundation, and past president of the Association of VA Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Chairs. Freischlag was the editor of JAMA Surgery for ten years (2005-2014) and is currently a member of the JAMA Oversight Committee and the editorial boards of the Annals of Vascular Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, British Journal of Surgery and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Currently, Freischlag serves on the Board of Directors of the Association for American Medical Colleges, National Institute of Health Clinical Center Research Hospital Board and Aga Khan University Board of Trustees. She is also chair of the Health Services Committee, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Board of Visitors and the University of Illinois Health Advisory Council.

Freischlag has received numerous teaching and achievement awards, including an achievement award from the Department of Veterans Affairs. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015, and in October 2021, she was inducted into the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators. Most recently, the Association of American Medical Colleges named Freischlag as chair-elect of its board of directors, with her term to begin in November 2024.

Freischlag holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois, a medical degree from Rush University. She did her general surgery residency and fellowship training in vascular surgery at UCLA Medical Center. She holds a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons credential and Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Vascular Surgery designation and a Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons.