Paul Friedmann, MD was born in Vienna, Austria, and emigrated to the United States in 1938. He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he attended the public schools. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania, attended Jefferson Medical College, and subsequently received his MD degree from Harvard University. He completed his surgical residency at the Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia, interrupting his residency to serve as a Captain in the United States Air Force. He took additional training in surgical oncology at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, New York, and cardiovascular surgery at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Friedmann took a full time staff position at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he became Chairman of the Department of Surgery in 1971. He stepped down as Chairman in 1998, to assume the position of Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Baystate Medical Center. He serves as Professor of Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine, as Dean for Baystate at Tufts University School of Medicine, and has been Chairman ad interim of the Department of Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine since 1996. He is certified and recertified by the American Board of Surgery in General Surgery and in Vascular Surgery.

He has held positions of leadership in numerous surgical and professional organizations, including the Presidencies of the Roswell Park Surgical Society, Association of Program Directors in Surgery, the New England Society for Vascular Surgery and the New England Surgical Society. He has been Chairman of the Residency Review Committee for Surgery, Chairman of the Chairmen’s Council of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and is currently serving as Chairman of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. He has also been President of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons. He was honored in 1998 by the Weinberg Family Prize for Excellence in Academic Achievement, and by the receipt of a Distinguished Faculty Award from Tufts University School of Medicine.

Dr. Friedmann has two daughters, Pamela and Cynthia, and resides in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, with his wife Janet and three Briard sheepdogs.