This interview is one in a series of interviews with the 2025 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 2025 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, taking place February 20-22, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee.
2025 David C. Leach Awardee Lauren Bojarski, DO, MS is a geriatric neurology fellow at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.
ACGME: Why did you want to become a physician?
Dr. Bojarski: "Buddy" was my grandfather, and such a gentle soul. He had worked for the FBI as a fingerprint specialist, and I loved watching him work in his office. Noticing his own fingerprints, I realized how huge his hands were compared to my five-year-old fingers at the time; but his hands always brought with them a sense of love and compassion for me, whether it was holding my hand or with hugs. When I was in elementary school, my mom told me of his new Alzheimer's diagnosis; that day I made a promise to myself and my grandfather that I would take care of those with dementia when I grew up.
Little did I know what variations that promise would mean for me, that caring for him would also mean watching his brain pass away in front of me until the end of his life. But his hands stayed the same over this progressive illness; he was the same person but was being taken from us by an unseen terror from within his mind. I thought about how little control medicine had over this disease, how I wished we as a family had more resources, how I wished the neurologist appointments could have been more promising, and how desperately I wished I could have my grandfather back again.
Now, 21 years of education later, I have finally reached the fruition of that promise: I see my grandfather's hands in every one of my patients, and I get the chance to help them age with respect and dignity, as well as help their caregivers with resources and an ear to listen.
ACGME: What, so far, has been the most rewarding part of your residency/fellowship?
Bojarski: Because giving resources and providing education to others played such an integral role in my original decision to start on my journey to medicine, I have been tremendously proud of the opportunities I have been given to promote these ideals both with my patients and within my residency. Through my passions for wellness, education, and advocacy, I became part of a team that believed not only in what I was fighting for but believed in me as a person. This expanded during the remainder of my residency, and by my graduation, I developed deep connections with my co-residents, fellows, and faculty members that in turn taught me patience, compassion, and the value of friendship and respect. I will cherish those memories and values as I start my practice, and as such, I feel the most rewarding part of residency was the relationships I got to experience along the way.
ACGME: What has been the most challenging?
Bojarski: The first year was challenging in more ways than I had anticipated. I graduated medical school during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant that the physical transition to residency was more abstract than I had hoped. As a first-generation college graduate in my family, my graduation ceremony was supposed to be a symbol for the support and dedication of my family, as well as my success; instead, I felt like an imposter walking through the hospital, and thinking someone had made a mistake by letting me work here as a doctor. Upon starting that first year, instead of primarily worrying about how to take care of patients, I had the additional worry of, "I hope I put my PPE [personal protective equipment] on the correct way so that I will survive this." Obviously, this took a mental toll, and I found myself struggling in my day-to-day life. However, my team identified this concern and encouraged me to seek counseling and find ways to become myself again; once my mentality improved, this admirable encouragement from others then inspired me to advocate for others as they had for me. Their love and support brought me to a new level of understanding for my colleagues, and that ignited in me a call to action to advocate for my co-residents. Now I tell others about my story so that they too can find meaning in their life, and combat feelings of otherness to optimize their well-being, one step at a time.
ACGME: What innovation/improvement did you implement in your program?
Bojarski: When I was an intern, I started working in my off time on a packet that would help first-year residents learn the intricacies of our neurology wards more efficiently. I was approached by my co-resident Dr. Patricia Olson, who said my work would be well received as part of the Neurology Handbook Committee. Shortly after joining, the committee came up with the idea to create a Virtual Neurology Handbook instead of a hard copy version that would allow for real-time updates to an ever-expanding realm of knowledge in an online handbook specific to our program. By identifying this need and investing the large initial time commitment required to convert the hard copy to the virtual handbook, a legacy was started that would be sustainable for residents and faculty members for years to come. The now aptly named Virtual Neurology Handbook Committee continues to excel in continuously adding educational pearls so the handbook serves as a repository of years of resident learning, all the while helping with burnout and efficiency by enabling those learning in our department the opportunity to thrive in an initially uncertain territory.
ACGME: What does it mean to you to receive this award?
Bojarski: In all honesty, I think this award has changed the trajectory of my entire career. I always thought I would ultimately go to private practice; but over the course of residency and through my work on this handbook, I realized my passion for well-being, advocacy, and education. While I thought I might pursue these passions intermittently [as part of] my clinical career, I never realized how powerful and sustainable an effect I could have until now. Our team has been able to create, organize, sustain, and promote a tool so helpful to so many people that this award has shown me this is only the beginning for both this project and for the future of academic medicine. Now I intend to continue growing my experience further in academic medicine, and endeavor to continue promoting resident education, wellness, and advocacy.
ACGME: What advice would you give to other residents/fellows who are looking to either replicate your improvement or implement an original idea in their own program?
Bojarski: My recommendations for other residents/fellows, or even faculty members and Advanced Practice Providers, who want to replicate the Virtual Neurology Handbook for their own specialty is to access the "How-to" guide at https://www.neurology.org/media/blog-post/virtual-neurology-handbook-educational-innovation-improving-resident-experience-academic-medicine.
Additionally, I would like to reinforce the idea of sustainability for your improvement. When finding a project, looking for one that sparks interest in yourself. Motivation within you is a very powerful thing; you will be more likely to talk about your project to others, which will get them excited to be a part of your project, too. Don't be afraid to advertise it, and this will in turn take on sustainability that will carry on even after you graduate.
ACGME: Is there anything else you would like to add that we haven’t asked about?
Bojarski: It is so important to identify how crucial my team members—Zain Guduru, MD, FAAN, FANA; Trevor Logan, MD, PhD; Patricia Olson, MD, PhD; Jamie Roberts, MSN, AGACNP-BC, AGPCNP-BC; and Andrew Williams, DO, MS—have been for this project.
While I knew this improvement was something special at first, and I spent so much time cultivating it over the years and annoyed others by saying, "It's in the handbook," whenever a resident would ask a question, I could never have made this sustainable without the entire committee keeping the Virtual Neurology Handbook going, either by mentorship or close collaboration. I am so appreciative of how much my team had faith in me to propel this project forward over the years, and this award is truly a perfect representation of our hard work, communication, and diversity in coming together as a team to optimize the resident experience.
Learn more about the ACGME’s David C. Leach Award and nominate a deserving resident or fellow for the 2026 Award – nominations are due by March 12, 2025.