Eric R. Zielinski, MD

Hear From Our Patients

“I hope to help women move forward after breast cancer by understanding what is possible with modern reconstructive surgery. By combining compassionate care with the most advanced options available, I strive to restore not only form, but confidence and a sense of wholeness.”

About Dr. Zielinski

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Eric R. Zielinski, MD (00:00):
There’s a few things that inspire me to come into the sub-specialty and the fact that it combines both kind of a mechanical structural architecture of what you’re doing with an artistic eye for having a final result. And then breast reconstruction really is the combination of those two things because you’re doing a practical thing where you’re reconstructing something that’s been taken away from somebody, but obviously there’s a big emphasis on the cosmetic results as well. One thing I’ve noticed since coming to the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery is that there’s no shortcuts. There’s nothing that’s cookie cutter. Everybody comes in and gets a tailored experience for whatever they need for their breast cancer journey. So the fact that our center does the most natural tie breast reconstruction I think is emblematic of two different things. The first is that this is really something that we’ve committed to.

(00:51):
We’re chosen to bend our careers getting very good at advancing techniques and making patients have great results. And then the second part of that is that the patients themselves are happy that they have great results and had such a good experience that they want to tell other people about the center. I think one of the most important things is that they feel like they’re being heard and that they’re being cared for. A lot of a breast cancer journey is going to be treatment of the breast cancer, which is obviously a very necessary part for the oncologist and the breast surgeon to take care of that portion. But really their reconstruction is about them because it’s really their preferences and their decisions that are going to be the most important thing to get the outcome that they want. A lot of the women that come in have been to our website or know about our group because they’re very well-informed.

(01:43):
So a lot of it is a joint decision making process. They come in with their ideas. I kind of work through what may or may not be a good option for them and we can come to a joint decision that way. Some other women, they have no idea. They’re overwhelmed by the process of this diagnosis and all the treatment options. And then what I can do is just provide different steps, different options. The breast reconstruction is very personalized and every woman’s going to have different goals depending on what their situation is and how they’re feeling. So great surgical care is going to entail the entire process from walking into the office, feeling comfortable in the office like the staff is there for you because that is what we’re here for. We’re here to provide a service to the patients and starting with that through feeling like you’re making a good informed decision after our initial consultation, that you have all the information, that you don’t feel pressured to go a certain way and that we’re in this together along the process.

(02:43):
And then of course with the postoperative care, there’s always somebody available. If you call, you can get ahold of one of the physicians or physician assistants to answer any of your questions. And then long-term seeing you happy with your results, hearing about how things are going and your post-cancer journey and just having that long-term relationship. So at the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery, it really is a collaborative effort. I talk to my partners every single day about different cases and we work together in the operating room to make sure things are going along safely and efficiently in order to get the breast results.

Dr. Eric R. Zielinski is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon with specialized training in advanced breast reconstruction. He is committed to helping individuals navigate breast cancer treatment and provide access to the most advanced reconstructive options available at the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery.

Dr. Zielinski graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in biology and religion and earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he served as Administrative Chief Resident and received the Outstanding Resident Leadership Award. He then completed his plastic surgery residency at the University of Texas Southwestern.

His academic work includes peer-reviewed publications in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and PRS Global Open. He has also contributed multiple textbook chapters on virtual surgical planning, dermal substitutes, and reduction mammaplasty. Dr. Zielinski’s service to the community includes providing surgical care in under-served communities, from Chicago’s west side to rural Malawi, where he supported the education of local general surgery residents.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Undergraduate
5/7/2011 Bachelor of Arts Biology, Religion Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois

Doctoral
5/5/2017 Doctorate Medicine University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

Post-doctoral
06/24/17-06/23/22 Resident General Surgery University of Illinois at Chicago

07/01/2022-current Resident Plastic Surgery University of Texas Southwestern

Leadership Experiences:

6/24/2021-6/23/2022 University of Illinois at Chicago Administrative Chief Resident

Professional Societies:

2017-current American College of Surgeons Member

2022-current American Society of Plastic Surgeons Resident Member

2015-current Alpha Omega Alpha Member

Honors and Awards:

2017 Alpha Omega Alpha University of Illinois College of Medicine

Membership limited to top 20% of class based on score calculated from clerkship grades, step 1 and NMBE scores, research, and community service

2022 Outstanding Resident Leadership Award University of Illinois at Chicago Chosen by faculty showing exceptional leadership among trainees

Report of Regional Presentations

2015 “Morphological Characterization of the Supraorbital Region in Pediatric Patients with Craniosynostosis.” E Zielinski, PK Patel
UIC College of Medicine Research Forum

2019 “Robotic Single Port (SP) cholecystectomy, Initial experience”
FM Bianco, Y Pavelko, V Valle, R Bustos, A Mangano, N Jelen, E Zielinski, J Mulica, P Giulianotti
11th Worldwide Congress of Clinical Robotic Surgery Association

2020 “Single-Port Platform Robotic Cholecystectomy”
FM Bianco, Y Pavelko, A Mangano, V Valle, R Bustos, E Zielinski, P Giulianotti.
SAGES Virtual Annual Meeting 2020

2021 “Primary Rhinoplasty During Unilateral Cleft Lip Repair: A Systematic Review of Current Literature”.
ER Zielinski, I Zelko, C Purnell
American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association Virtual Meeting

2021 “Current Practices in Alveolar Bone Grafting Among American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association Members”
ER Zielinski, R Hlavin, C Purnell
American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association Virtual Meeting

Report of Clinical Activities

Current Licensure and Certification

2022 American Board of Surgery, General Surgery
2025 Texas Medical License
2025 ACLS
2025 BLS

Report of Education of Patients and Service to the Community

2015-2017 Community Health – Student Run Free Clinic: Volunteer
Provided phlebotomy and primary care services to immigrant, underserved, and uninsured patients on Chicago’s west side.

2021 Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons: Malamulo General Hospital – Makwasa, Malawi
Provided operative in a rural hospital setting, helped staff the walk-in surgical clinic, and educated local general surgery residents on intraoperative skills as well as laparoscopic simulation.

Report of Scholarship

Zelko I, Zielinski E, Santiago CN, Alkureishi LWT, Purnell CA. “Primary Cleft Rhinoplasty: A Systematic Review of Results, Growth Restriction, and Avoiding Secondary Rhinoplasty.” Plast Reconstr Surg. 2023 Mar 1;151(3):452e-462e. PMID: 36409217
Zielinski, E, Santiago, CN, Santiago GS, Zelko, I, Hlavin, R, Choudhary, A, Purnell, CA “Differences in Practice in Alveolar Bone Grafting Among American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association Members.”
Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2023 Nov;60(11):1404-1410. PMID: 35642289
Zielinski ER, Galiano, RD. “Discussion: Effects of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy on primary closed defects after Superficial Circumflex Iliac Artery Perforator (SCIP) Flap harvest; Randomized, Controlled Study.” Plast Reconstr Surg. 2016 138(6) 1341–1343. PMID: 27879605
Hsieh JC, Maisel-Campbell AL, Joshi CJ, Zielinski E, Galiano RD. “Daily Quality-of-life Impact of Scars: An Interview-based Foundational Study of Patient-reported Themes.” Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2021
Apr 15;9(4):e3522. PMID: 33868874
Eric Zielinski, Ryan J. Jacobs, Eric Barker, Kate Rodby, Anuja K. Antony. (2015). “Virtual Surgical Planning in Craniomaxillofacial Reconstruction”. In Mohammad H.K. Motamedi (Editor), A Textbook of Advanced Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Volume 2 (pp 715-732). InTech Open. ISBN: 978-953-51-2035-3
Sumanas W Jordan, Sergey Y Turin, Eric R Zielinski, Robert D Galiano. (2018). “Matrices and Dermal Substitutes for Wound Treatment.” In Dennis P. Orgill (Editor), Interventional Treatment of Wounds: A Modern Approach for Better Outcomes(pp 215-250). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3-319-66989-2
Lauren Mioton-Connor, Eric R Zielinski, Amanda Maisel, Robert D Galiano. “Reduction Mammaplasty” Scientific American Plastic Surgery Online.