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
Blog
Essays on surgery, innovation, and the difficult work of getting better.
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.
The Endless Residency
Why Surgical Training Never Really Ends 1. A Simple Procedure Early in my residency, I placed a suprapubic tube. It is a routine procedure, the sort every
The Second Cut: DeBakey, the Shah, and the Hubris of the Comforting Explanation
1. The Legend, the King, and the Hostile Abdomen On March 28, 1980, in a military hospital on the banks of the Nile, Michael DeBakey removed a spleen the size
The Wicked Problem of Surgical Failure
Or: Why the Best Surgeons Cannot Escape Variance, and What That Teaches Us About Learning in Complex Systems 1. The Ether Dome and the Statistician On October
Single-Port Surgery and the Cost of Being Early
Intuitive wins 3 new indications for da Vinci SP system Getting energy from a fusion reactor 93 million miles away is cheaper than burning the rocks in the
Generative Hypochondria
I let ChatGPT analyze a decade of my Apple Watch data. Then I called my doctor.
More on Autonomous Robotic Surgery
When I am sitting at the robotic console during a cystectomy, the relationship between my hands and the instruments is absolute. Every movement—scaled,
Elon Musk says Tesla Optimus will be doing surgery by 2029
A video of Elon Musk speaking with Peter Diamandis and Dave Blundin talking about the future of AGI Timeline, US vs China, Job Markets, Clean Energy & Humanoid
Why I Created This Website
I created this website to make my educational work easier to find and easier to use. Over the years, material related to my work—articles, lectures, surgical