Dr. Rajendra Bhayani on choosing a surgeon: what patients should ask, and what doctors should never stop learning

• A practicing ENT and facial plastic surgeon in New York shares what his training path taught him about picking the right specialist, and what it takes to keep improving after decades in the operating room.

Why training path matters more than a title

New York, USA, Oct 16, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Dr. Rajendra Bhayani is an ENT surgeon in New York who also completed training in neurosurgery and holds a fellowship in facial plastic and micro vascular surgery. He was the first ENT surgeon in India to complete that combination of training.

That background shapes how he thinks about advice for both young doctors and patients trying to choose one.

“A title on a door tells you very little,” he says. “What tells you more is the training behind it, and whether that training kept going after residency ended.”

Bhayani has published and presented more than 50 research papers over his career. He points to that output not as a credential to display, but as evidence of a habit: staying in the literature, testing assumptions, and writing up results even when it is not required.

What patients should actually ask

Bhayani suggests patients looking for a surgeon focus less on reputation and more on specifics.

“Ask what fellowships someone completed, and why they chose them,” he says. “Ask how many procedures like yours they’ve done recently, not just over a whole career. Ask what they’d do differently if your case doesn’t go as planned.”

He also encourages patients to ask about a surgeon’s research involvement.

“A surgeon who publishes is a surgeon who has had their thinking checked by other doctors,” he says. “That matters more than it sounds like it should.”

Bhayani holds leadership positions in the healthcare field, heading ENT and facial plastic surgery divisions at hospitals in New York. He says that kind of role comes with a responsibility to model the same standard he asks patients to look for.

What early-career doctors get wrong

Bhayani’s advice to younger surgeons starts with a caution against stopping too early.

“Finishing a residency feels like the finish line,” he says. “It’s the start line. The surgeons who plateau are usually the ones who stopped treating their own training as unfinished.”

He points to his own path, choosing to add neurosurgery training and a facial plastic and micro vascular fellowship on top of ENT, as an example of a decision that took longer than it needed to.

“I could have stopped sooner,” he says. “I don’t think I’d be as useful to patients now if I had.”

He also warns against choosing a subspecialty based on prestige rather than fit.

“Pick what you’re curious about at two in the morning, not what sounds impressive at a dinner party,” he says. “Curiosity is what gets you through the parts of training that are genuinely hard.”

Recognition as a signal, not a goal

Bhayani’s name has been included in the Marquis Who’s Who in America in Medicine and Healthcare, and he received a USA Triologic Society award for his research. He is careful about how he frames that kind of recognition for younger doctors.

“Awards are a lagging indicator,” he says. “They tell you something was done well two or three years ago. They don’t tell you what to do next. Chase the work, not the plaque.”

For patients, he says the presence of awards or academic recognition is worth noting but shouldn’t be the deciding factor.

“Look at recognition as one data point among several,” he says. “Combine it with training history and a straight answer to your questions, and you’ll have a much better picture than the diploma on the wall gives you.”

A simple standard

Asked to condense his advice into one line for either audience, Bhayani keeps it short.

“Doctors should keep training long after anyone requires it. Patients should keep asking questions until they stop getting real answers. Both habits protect the same thing: getting it right.”

About Dr. Rajendra Bhayani

Dr. Rajendra Bhayani is an ENT and facial plastic surgeon based in New York, New York. He is the first ENT surgeon in India to complete training in neurosurgery, and he holds a fellowship in facial plastic and micro vascular surgery. He has published and presented more than 50 research papers and holds leadership positions heading ENT and facial plastic surgery divisions at hospitals in New York.