The Department of Surgery

Polina Zmijewski, MD, MA

Assistant Professor
Division of General Surgery

Clinical Focus

Surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands, Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia, genetic endocrine disorders, pediatric endocrine surgery

Education

Medical School
University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, 2016

Residency
Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital
General Surgery, 2021

Fellowship
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Endocrine Surgery, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2022
Fellow, Breast Surgical Oncology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2023
Fellow, Endocrine Surgery, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2024

Other Education
Barnard College of Columbia University, New York, New York, B.A., Neuroscience and Behavior, 2010
Columbia University, New York, New York, M.A., Sociocultural Anthropology, 2014

Certifications
American Board of Surgery 2021
Advanced Trauma Life Support 2016
Basic Life Support 2022
Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support 2020
Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery 2020
Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery 2021

Professional Associations
Association for Academic Surgery
American College of Surgeons
American Association of Endocrine Surgeons
Association for Surgical Education

Current Publications

Armstrong VL, Grabeel KL, Heidel RE, McGillicuddy CM, Zmijewski P, Murdock P, Lew JI, Vaghaiwalla TM.
Patient educational materials for pheochromocytoma exceed recommended readability level: An analysis across three independent reading instruments. J Cancer Educ. 2025 Jun 21. doi: 10.1007/s13187-025-02666-3. Online ahead of print.

Current Presentations

Joyner M, Schwab M, Gillis A ,Fazendin J ,Lindeman B ,Chen H, Zmijewski P. Fragility index of evidence for the timing of surgery for secondary hyperparathyroidism. Presented at Academic Surgical Conference; 2025 Feb - 11; Las Vegas, NV.