Gillis, Andrea, M.D., MSPH

Assistant Professor
Director of Endocrine Surgery Research
Co-Director, Pre-College Research Internship for Scholarship and Mentoring (PRISM)
Associate Clerkship Director, UAB Surgery
Committee Leader, Surgical Grand Rounds

Areas of Interest
breast and endocrine surgery, surgical oncology

CLINICAL PROFILE

PUBMED

TWITTER

Biography

Dr. Andrea Gillis is a board certified general surgeon, who received her M.D. from Columbia University and completed surgical residency at Albany Medical Center in New York. She completed an endocrine surgery fellowship training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her clinical interests include thyroid cancer, benign thyroid disease, hyperparathyroidism, adrenal disease and surgical treatment of inherited endocrine syndromes.

Dr. Gillis is a health outcome disparities and translational science researcher working in the field of epigenetics, specifically examining differences in gene expression in neuroendocrine tumors by race. She has been awarded an NIH grant for Early Surgeon Scientists (ESSP) in order to pursue this work. She says her desire is to improve the outcomes of all patients including those from minority and underserved backgrounds.

She is a member of and serves on national committees for both American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) and Association of Academic Surgeons (AAS). Dr. Gillis also has an Adult Complex Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery Focused Practice Designation from the American Board of Surgery.

Honors and Awards

Southern Surgical Association Leadership Development Award (2025)

Invited Faculty Panelist to 21st Annual Academic Surgical Congress (ASC) (2025)

Best Basic Science Oral Presentation Award at NANETS 2025 Meeting (Austin, TX) (2025)

International Association for Endocrine Surgery: John Fardon Award for Best Clinical Poster (Vienna, Austria, 2022)

NIH/NCI T32 Research Award (2021-2022)

National Medical Association Meeting: Drew Walker Symposium - Presentation Award (2018)

Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar (2008-2012)

Columbia College Dean's List (2010-2012)

Selected Publications

Gillis A, Obiarinze R, Mcleaod C, Zmijewski P, Chen H, Fazendin J, Lindeman B. Time to symptom resolution after total thyroidectomy for Graves’ disease. Journal of Surgical Research.

Gillis A, Chen H. There’s no such thing as a free lunch: Outcomes of Concurrent Parathyroidectomy and Thyroidectomy among CESQIP Surgeons, A Commentary. Am J Surg. 2022 May 25; S0002- 9610(22)00377-4. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.05.025

Gillis A, Ramonell K, Lindeman B, Chen H, Fazendin J. “Vitamin D deficiency is associated with single gland parathyroid disease.” American Journal of Surgery. 2022 Apr 15;S0002-9610(22)00241-0. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.04.005.

Zmijewski P, Fazendin J, Aburjania Z, Gillis A, Chen H, Lindeman B. “Impact of a Funds Flow Model on Surgeon Productivity at One Academic Medical Center”. Surgery in Practice and Science. 2022 June, 100709. Doi:10.1016/j.sipas.2022.100079

Gillis A, Nwariaku F. Intraoperative parathyroid hormone measurement facilitates outpatient thyroidectomy in children (Invited Commentary). Am J Surg. 2021 Jan 29;S0002-9610(21)00049-0. DOI: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.01.031.

Alobuia W, Gillis A, Kebebew E. Contemporary management of anaplastic thyroid cancer. Current Treatment Options in Oncology. 2020 Aug 7;21(10):78. DOI: 10.1007/s11864-020-00776-2.

Gillis A, Pfaff A, Ata A, Giammarino A, Stain S, Tafen M. Are there variations in timing to tracheostomy in a tertiary academic medical center? The American Journal of Surgery. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2020.01.035. Published online 21 Jan 2020.

Sinclair T, Gillis A, Alobuia W, Wild H, Kebebew E. Surgery for adrenocortical carcinoma: When and how? Best Practice and Research Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2020 May;34(3):101408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beem.2020.101408.

Khan F, Gillis A, Narayan S, Ribons L, Edwards M. Jejunal cavernous hemangioma presenting with small bowel obstruction in a toddler. Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports. 2019 Aug; 49: Article 101276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsc.2019.101276. Epub Aug 2019.

Wu AJ, Gillis A, Foster A, Woo K, Zhang Z, Gelblum DY, Downey RJ, Rosenzweig KE, Ong L, Perez CA, Pietanza MC, Krug L, Rudin CM, Rimner A. Patterns of failure in limited-stage small cell lung cancer: Implications of TNM stage for prophylactic cranial irradiation. Radiother Oncol. 2017 Oct;125(1):130-135. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2017.07.019. Epub 2017 Aug 1.

Wu C, Holland M, Akinola KK, McLeod C, Chen H, Rose JB, Bhatia S, Gillis A. Intersection of race and poverty for pancreatic adenocarcinoma: A public health crisis. Am J Surg. 2026 Jan;251:116707. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116707. Epub 2025 Oct 30. PMID: 41232451.

Song Z, Kasmirski J, Balachandra S, Wu C, Gillis A, Fazendin J, Lindeman B, Chen H. Parathyroidectomy is Associated with Lower Mortality and Fewer Cardiac Complications in Patients with Secondary Hyperparathyroidism. Surgery. 2026 Jan;189:109851. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2025.109851. Epub 2025 Nov 14. PMID: 41238436; PMCID: PMC12626385.

Chaudhary I, Akhund R, ZhiXing Song, Swaminathan N, Kasmirski J, Chaudhary N, Lindeman B, Fazendin J, Gillis A, Chen H. Healthcare Access and Utilization: Understanding Racial Disparities in Primary Hyperparathyroidism (2025). Journal of Surgical Research. Accepted/In Press. J Surg Res . 2025 Nov:315:761-767. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2025.09.080. Epub 2025 Oct 26.

Kasmirski JA, Song Z, Swaminathan N, Chaudhary I, Balachandra S, Gillis A, Fazendin J, Lindeman B, Chen H. Surgical Intervention for Primary Hyperparathyroidism is Associated with a Reduction in New-onset Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Surgery . 2026 Jan:189:109867. doi:10.1016/j.surg.2025.109867. Epub 2025 Nov 3.

Akinola KK, Pathak V, Wu C, McLeod C, Chen H, Bhatia S, Rose JB, Gillis A. Racial Disparities in Chemotherapy Response in Pancreatic Cancer: A Landmark Survival Analysis. J Surg Res. 2026 Jan;317:500-507. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2025.11.051. Epub 2025 Dec 24. PMID: 41448110; PMCID: PMC12895424.

Swaminathan N, Wachira P, Savage A, Wu C, Akinola KK, Carrillo DG, Wells C, Roy R, McLeod C, Lindeman B, Fazendin J, Chen H, Gillis A. Optimizing Thyroid Cytopathology Reports Focused on a Patient-Centered Approach: Mixed Methods Study. J Surg Res. 2026 Mar;319:178-184. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2026.01.022. Epub 2026 Feb 12. PMID: 41687143.

Gomez-Carrillo D, Roy R, Izhar A, Swaminathan N, Arain H, Kasmirski J, Dream S, Gillis A, Lindeman B, Chen H. Diagnostic performance of AI-assisted intraoperative imaging for parathyroid identification: a systematic review. Am J Surg. 2026 Apr;254:116853. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2026.116853. Epub 2026 Jan 30. PMID: 41650512.

Gillis A, Obiarinze R, McLeod MC, Zmijewski P, Chen H, Fazendin J, Lindeman B. Time to Symptom Resolution After Total Thyroidectomy for Graves' Disease. J Surg Res. 2023 Jan;281:185-191. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2022.07.027. Epub 2022 Sep 27. PMID: 36179596; PMCID: PMC10496743.

Alobuia W, Gillis A, Kebebew E. Contemporary management of anaplastic thyroid cancer. Current Treatment Options in Oncology. 2020 Aug 7;21(10):78. DOI: 10.1007/s11864-020-00776-2.

Appointments

Member, Institute for Cancer Outcomes & Survivorship

Education

Medical School
Columbia University, Columbia College, New York, NY

Residency
Albany Medical Center, New York, NY
Chief Resident in Surgery

Albany Medical Center, New York, NY
General Surgery

Fellowship
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Endocrine Surgery

Institute of Cancer Outcomes/Survivorship Laboratory of Smita Bhatia, M.D.
Research

Contact

Campus Address
BDB 503

Phone
Patient Appointments and Questions: 205-934-3229Academic Office: 205-934-2242

Email
agillis@uabmc.edu

Colleges & Schools

Department of Surgery