This interview is one in a series of interviews with the 2026 recipients of the ACGME Awards. These awardees join an outstanding group of previous honorees whose work and contributions to graduate medical education (GME) represent the best in the field. They will be honored at the 2026 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, taking place February 19-21, 2026, in San Diego, California.
2026 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Awardee I. Michael Leitman, MD, FACS is the designated institutional official (DIO) at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.
ACGME: How did you become involved in medicine, and in academic medicine specifically?
Dr. Leitman: During my residency, actually. I learned about the joys of teaching as a surgery resident with opportunities to work with medical students and assist them in understanding the basics of trauma and burn resuscitation. I remember the joy of seeing transformation by some students that never considered surgery as a career and deciding to enter into residency in a surgical specialty.
ACGME: What does this award mean to you?
Leitman: It represents a culmination of 40 years in GME. I started as a program director in a single-trainee fellowship program, migrated into being a general surgery program director, to ultimately having the opportunity to be the DIO for the largest GME program in the country with a total of 2,744 residents and fellows.
ACGME: What do you feel is the most important job a designated institutional official has?
Leitman: Understanding the needs of the hospital and health system while keeping the needs of residents and fellows in the center.
ACGME: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Leitman: Sharing in the success of our many graduates who have gone on to have wonderful and productive professional and personal lives.
ACGME: What is the most challenging?
Leitman: Decoupling the stress of professional development and the workload required to take the best care of patients.
ACGME: Who were your mentors?
Leitman: G. Tom Shires, MD, my program director and chair of surgery at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell, and Harris Nagler, MD, a urologist who initially appointed me as DIO when he assumed the role of hospital president.
Learn more about the ACGME’s Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Award here. Register for #ACGME2026 on our conference website, where we’ll continue to celebrate this year’s honorees.