The Red Beads
A single complication cannot grade a surgeon. Deming's red beads, M&M, and why surgical quality lives in the distribution, not in one bad outcome.
Lee C. Zhao, MD
Reconstructive urology at NYU Langone.
Complex and redo surgery of the ureter, urethra, and lower urinary tract, and gender-affirming surgery, explained for patients and for the physicians who refer them.
Latest essays
All essays 
Master the Eggs
Mastery means knowing which details carry the operation. A lesson from the bedside, where a missed step nearly put a patient on the floor.
The Adjacent Possible and the Buccal Mucosa Graft
Why a useful surgical idea can wait for generations, and what the history of the buccal mucosa graft reveals about innovation.
Teaching and projects
- NYU Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship
The fellowship year, operative experience, alumni, and how to apply.
- Surgical Decision Simulator
Case-based decision training in reconstructive urology.
- Urology Workforce Atlas
Urologists per country, density per population, society rolls, and urology meetings since 2000, every figure with its source.
- Reconstructive Urology Fellowship Family Tree
The fellowship lineage of mentors and fellows, 1990 to 2026.
- NYU Langone Urology Alumni
Alumni and department history.
- NYU Urology History
Rankings, faculty, and research over time.
- Northwestern Urology Graduates
Residency graduates on a timeline and map.