He received his MD and PhD degrees from the Westfaelische Wilhelms-University in Muenster, Germany. He completed his anesthesia residency at the University of Chicago. Subsequently, he went to Massachusetts General Hospital and Duke University where he completed fellowship training in critical care medicine and in cardiothoracic anesthesia, respectively. His research examines the effects of surgical stress on cognition and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as post-traumatic stress disorder. His interests are identifying preoperative neuroimaging biomarkers that best predict postoperative cognitive decline. In addition, Dr. Brzezinski is a nationally accomplished medical educator, member of the prestigious Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators at UCSF, and has won multiple national and international awards for his educational scholarly work.