Dr. Ed Verrier Selected Puget Sound Business Journal Physician Educator of the Year

November 15, 2019

Dr. Ed Verrier

Dr. Ed Verrier

“I am very pleased and proud to announce Dr. Ed Verrier, Professor, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, has been selected as the Physician Educator of the Year by the Puget Sound Business Journal as part of their 2019 Health Care Leadership Awards.

Dr. Verrier has a lifelong career of dedication to surgical education, with a profound influence here at University of Washington (UW), but also nationally and internationally. For many years as Program Director of the Cardiothoracic (CT) Surgery Residency, he created a culture of educational commitment that has led our CT programs to be considered among the top programs in the country. Dr. Verrier was then selected to be the Surgical Director of the Joint Council of Thoracic Surgical Education (JCTSE), a major investment of CT organizations to upgrade and revolutionize CT education in the United States. His leadership of this effort has transformed CT surgery training and has created a new generation of surgical educators with his “Educating the Educators” courses.

Dr. Verrier has been honored with virtually every teaching award he could be eligible for, beginning with the John K. Stevenson Award from the residents in the UW Department of Surgery. He received the Socrates Award from the Thoracic Surgery Residents Association, and the Bruce Gilliland Award as the teacher of the year throughout the UW system of over 3,000 faculty. In October 2019, he was inducted into the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators. This latest honor from the Puget Sound Business Journal is well-deserved and acknowledges Dr. Verrier’s major impact on surgical education in our community and also across specialties well beyond UW Surgery. There is no one I can think of who is more deserving of this award and recognition. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Verrier for his remarkable leadership in surgery and education.”

Dr. Verrier expresses “Being recognized by the Puget Sound Business Journal as Physician Educator of the Year is an unexpected and welcomed honor. In surgical academia we can be appreciated for our clinical skills or productivity in the research arena but often educational commitment is taken for granted. Maintaining superb clinical outcomes with the additional responsibility of training the next generation is worth noting. This type of  recognition really  celebrates  all surgeons who commit to not only exceptional clinical care but also teaching, mentoring and coaching young surgeons in training to care of our loved ones in the future.”

Puget Sound Business Journal story >>

Dr. Douglas Wood
The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair