Zara Patel

Rhinology and skull base surgery

Dr. Zara M. Patel is the Director of Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery and Professor of Otolaryngology and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery at Stanford University. She completed her MD at Oregon Health Sciences University, completed her residency training in otolaryngology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and completed her fellowship in Rhinology at Stanford University in California.

Dr. Patel is an expert in advanced endoscopic sinus and skull base surgery. She treats patients with a wide variety of rhinologic complaints, including those with chronic rhinosinusitis, sinonasal and skull base tumors, and olfactory disorders. She is past-Chair of the Education Committee and member of the Board of Directors for the American Rhinologic Society (ARS), past Chair of the Rhinology and Education Committee for the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (AAOHNS), and has consulted for the CDC on COVID-19 related olfactory loss.

Dr. Patel has published on topics such as precision medicine in chronic rhinosinusitis, new devices and techniques for endoscopic skull base surgery, predictive criteria for behavior in sinonasal tumors, artificial intelligence, and olfactory loss. She continues to perform research in these areas, and is collaborating with computer data scientists and engineers to develop technology that she hopes will eventually help cure patients with olfactory loss.