Dr. Ann Zmuda received her podiatric medical degree from the Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine. She completed her residency at Loyola University/Hines Veterans Affairs. She then completed a post-graduate fellowship in diabetic research, igniting her passion for the diabetic foot. To expand her clinical expertise to provide surgical treatment for the podiatric patient, she obtained board certification from the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery. Following several years of private practice, Dr. Zmuda came to the University of Chicago Medicine in 2000 to fill the need for diabetic foot care at our institution. In addition to a primary appointment in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, she also holds secondary appointments in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and the Section of Vascular Surgery. This enabled her to facilitate optimal medical and surgical treatment for the diabetic foot population as the sole podiatric physician and surgeon at UCM for the last 16 years, including those with high-risk pathology. A high number of wound referrals has shaped her practice into one of limb salvage and wound care. Dr. Zmuda is particularly interested in advanced wound therapies such as bioengineered tissue grafting as well as Human Amniotic Membrane grafting, offering alternative treatment options to patients who would otherwise had to undergo limb amputation. To that end, she has recently collaborated with the Section of Vascular Surgery in the development of our limb salvage program, University of Chicago Amputation Prevention (UChAMPS). This program will involve community screenings of potential patients, targeting peripheral vascular disease as well as non-healing lower extremity wounds. These patients will have the benefit of multiple medical and surgical disciplines working together to improve patient care and outcomes by providing advanced technologies in their management.

Since working at UCM, Dr. Zmuda has also developed a passion for teaching. She created and directs an internal medicine rotation for fourth year podiatric medical students from the Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University. This program provides students with a unique opportunity to see first hand how advanced disease processes affect the lower extremities. She was selected for the 2010 inaugural class of the MERIT’s Fellowship Program through Pritzker Medical School, which provided her with knowledge of theoretical learning models that in turn made her a better educator.