Salil Bhandari, MD, FACEP

Associate Professor
Director of Media and Communications
Department of Emergency Medicine
McGovern Medical School
UTHealth-Houston

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 832-423-8355

Biography:

Dr. Salil Bhandari originally hails from Sugar Land, TX and completed his residency in emergency medicine at NYU Medical Center/Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, NY. He continued as an Assistant Professor for the following four years working in residency education and has trained residents in public speaking and presentation design as well as procedural competency. He is a winner of NYC’s Blast Lecture Competition featured on the EMCrit Website, a contributor to the Core EM Website, and a speaker for the REBEL EM Conferences. He was awarded the Clinical Attending of the Year by the residents of NYU Department of Emergency Medicine in 2015 and best faculty lecturer at McGovern Med in 2019. He also teaches emergency procedures for NASA’s recent graduates of the Astronaut Program in preparation for dealing with emergencies at the International Space Station. He is passionate about critical care and airway, education, presentation design, and resident wellness. Dr. Bhandari now works as the Assistant Program Director McGovern Medical School at UT Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, TX.

Educational Philosophy:

“Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I may remember.  Involve and I will learn.” This quote by Benjamin Franklin encompasses my deepest philosophies on education.  On shift in the emergency department, when a resident asks a question about tracheostomy tubes, instead of simply talking about them I make a point to bring out various tracheostomy tubes I carry with me to talk through the differences.  When the resident has a difficult intubation, we stay after shift and I work to correct their hand positions using a mannikin I store in the ED.  When they want to learn about epistaxis, I break open the ENT kit to talk through the various pieces of equipment.  If I am simply talking to them, their mind may wander and they may forget what I say, but when their hands and eyes are working while I teach, I know they are processing the information fully.

“The best teachers are those that show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see.” This quote by Alexandra Trenfor is another one of my favorites when it comes to my educational philosophies.  I always try hard to lead residents to the answer as opposed to simply telling them the answer.  When residents on shift ask me if they should order a CT scan of the chest, instead of simply saying yes or no, I ask them: why do you want to order it?  What are you looking for?  Is there another way to get that same information?  My hope is that with the questioning process they realize the answer themselves as opposed to simply following what I order them to do.  The educational process is one of self-discovery.

Finally, I am a firm believer in regular and constant review once you have learned certain information.  At the end of my shift with every resident, I take them aside and do a “one minute review” of all the things we learned on shift to help solidify the information.  In the busy ED, it’s very easy for residents to learn information and then forget it as soon as they leave because they never stopped to do a quick review.

Teaching is one of my greatest loves in this world.  The teacher-student relationship is sacred.  My life’s mission is simple: to impact as many learners as possible in my time here.

Education:

Undergraduate Degree: Tufts University
Medical Degree: Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
Residency: NYU Medical Center Emergency Medicine Residency Program

Current Teaching Responsibilities:

Emergency Medicine Airway Labs
Emergency Medicine Rare Procedure Labs
Senior Grand Rounds Lecture Series
Faculty Development Program

Honors and Awards:

2015 – Clinical Attending of the Year Award
2019-2022 – Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award
2019 – Commencement Speaker, Residency Graduation
2019 – Best Faculty Lecturer of the Year Award
2020 – Best Faculty Lecturer of the Year Award
2020 – Most Outstanding Resident Advocate of the Year Award
2021 – Most Outstanding Resident Advocate of the Year Award
2021 – Most Dedicated Educator of the Year Award
2022 – Fellow of American College of Emergency Physicians (FACEP)
2023 – Most Outstanding Resident Advocate of the Year Award
2023 – ACEP Rookie Speaker of the Year Award
2024 – Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Medical Honor Society, Delta Chapter
2024 – Induction into Academy of Master Educators, UTHealth-Houston
2024 – Commencement Speaker, EM Residency Graduation
2024 – Most Outstanding Resident Advocate of the Year Award
2024 – Faculty of the Year Award

Select Publications:

  1. Calderón CA, Kosoko AA, Bhandari SK, Lesnick JA, Herkes DR, Huebinger RM: Resident-Led Physical Wellness Initiative Linked to Less Burnout for Emergency Physicians during COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Wellness, Vol 3 (3): 1-5, 2021.
  2. Guo J, Bhandari S, Ghayal P. What’s Pacing? Could It Be a Leadless Pacemaker?  ACEP’s EM Resident Magazine.  Online Publication. March 18, 2024. Link
  3. Guo J, Bhandari S, Ghayal P. What’s Pacing? Could It Be a Leadless Pacemaker?  ACEP’s EM Resident Magazine.  July/Aug/Sept 2024 Issue. Page 22-23.