An Oneonta physician has been chosen for an award from the Basset Healthcare Network.
Dr. Benjamin Friedell has been honored with the 2026 Walter A. Franck Physician Excellence Award. The award “recognizes a physician, nominated by their peers, who exemplifies excellence in the areas of clinical care, scholarship and citizenship. It is among the most prestigious recognitions awarded by Bassett Healthcare Network to its caregivers,” a Bassett news release stated.
Friedell plans to retire from his clinical practice at Oneonta Family Practice where he has seen patients since 1997, the release stated. He will continue to serve as medical director of A.O. Fox Nursing Home until a new leader is ready to assume that role and remain in an advisory role in Primary Care leadership in Otsego County for a transition period after his retirement from clinical practice.
“There are people that I have cared for over many years, and seen through a lot of ups and downs, and it’s really hard to say goodbye,” Friedell said. “But that to me is the foundation of primary care, if not all of medicine. It’s the relationship with the patient and the trust they have in me that I’m going to take good care of them.”
According to the release, Friedell “has dedicated the entirety of his career to the care of patients in Oneonta and Otsego County.” After earning his medical degree in Ohio and completing his residency in Rochester, a scholarship he had earned required that he practice medicine for three years in an area facing a physician shortage. He established his practice at a small, independent clinic in Worcester. “Those three years came and went, but Dr. Friedell never left the area,” the release stated.
“Those were the days when so many more physicians were in private practice,” Friedell said. “I had privileges at A.O. Fox Hospital and as hospital medicine became more of a thing, I was hired by the hospital and moved my practice there. Then, as Fox Hospital and Bassett got closer in terms of affiliation, all of the doctors and caregivers who were employed by Fox became part of the network as it currently stands.”
In addition to his responsibilities at Bassett, Friedell founded and currently serves as medical director of the Oneonta Community Health Center, a free clinic that provides medical services free of charge to community members facing financial hardship. The clinic was first conceptualized and spearheaded by the Unitarian Universalist Society in Oneonta, the church where Friedell is a member and where he serves as a member of the board of trustees. He was president of the Board for seven years.
“I feel it’s important that I have a commitment to the community beyond what I do in my office. It is very moving to see patients at the free clinic who are so thankful that someone is caring for them and not charging them anything,” he said. “I’m interested in people. I am fortunate enough to have chosen a medical specialty that I have enjoyed for all of the years I’ve been here.”
“I am pleased to congratulate Dr. Ben Friedell as the recipient of the Walter Franck award this year,” said Dr. Amy Grace, chief of primary care for Bassett. “Beyond being an excellent and compassionate physician, a dedicated teacher and a respected leader, he has been a pillar of our community for many years. It has been a privilege to have called him a colleague.”
Friedell served on the A.O. Fox Hospital Board of Directors between 1993 and 2002. One of his proudest accomplishments during that time, according to the release, was the role he played in Fox Hospital’s purchase and renovation of the former Pyramid Mall in Oneonta, transforming the then-shuttered shopping center into what is now FoxCare Center, where Oneonta Family Practice is located and where Friedell sees patients.
During his career, he has held academic appointments at Upstate Medical University, based in Syracuse, Albany Medical College and the University of Rochester. He currently teaches students through Bassett Healthcare Network’s partnership with Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
“I’ve always enjoyed teaching. In fact, some of the doctors and nurse practitioners that I taught over the years still practice here in the region,” Friedell said. “It’s rewarding and sort of like passing the torch. I’ve gotten feedback here and there about how much my students appreciated it, just as I expressed my gratitude to the doctors who I modeled myself after when I was just getting started.”
Dr. Friedell also served nine years on the Oneonta City School District Board of Education and served two years on the Otsego County Board of Representatives.
The award
The Walter A. Franck Award is named in honor of retired Bassett physician Dr. Walter Franck, who served for more than 40 years at Bassett Medical Center as a rheumatologist, and eventually chief of medicine, in addition to his role establishing the Columbia-Bassett Program and serving as associate dean of the medical school until his retirement in 2015.
“I remember Dr. Franck very well. He was at Bassett while I was at Fox and I had a great deal of respect for him as a clinician and as a teacher,” Friedell said. “This award means a great deal to me and I think, having known Dr. Franck, it means even more.”
As part of this award, each recipient is awarded $10,000 to be donated to a Bassett-affiliated charitable cause of their choice. Friedell chose to support the Bob Simon & Loretta Anagnost Patient Assistance Fund, which provides non-medical financial assistance to cancer patients facing financial hardship during their treatments, and the David S. Svahn Humanities in Medicine Memorial Lecture, an annual talk that is open to the public meant to instill appreciation of the arts, philosophy, and social sciences in the practitioners at Bassett Healthcare Network, according to the release.