From Patient to Surgeon: Building Trust Through Board Certification

By Nyanika Arora, Western University College of Health Sciences (Class of 2026)

I had a stroke when I was twenty-three. The pain was immediate and unmistakable, and I knew something was seriously wrong, yet I was dismissed because I was young and “looked healthy.” I remember the dissonance of deteriorating while people spoke over me with complete confidence in a wrong conclusion. One neurologist finally broke from that assumption. She recognized the pattern, acted decisively, and changed the outcome. Survival came down to a physician who was capable enough to see what others missed. That experience did not make me idealistic about medicine. It made me precise. Competence is not guaranteed, and outcomes are determined by who knows what they’re doing - not who means well.

That is why ABFAS Board Certification matters to me. Excellence doesn’t sustain itself through intention alone; it requires standards that are objective, repeatable, and continually assessed.

ABFAS is the only foot and ankle surgical certification recognized by the Council on Podiatric Medical Education, and its two-step process demands proof in both knowledge and real surgical outcomes. It is not a credential of potential; it is evidence of execution.

Certification is also what determines whether I can care for patients completely. ABFAS status influences hospital privileging, insurance credentialing, referral patterns, and whether a surgeon can independently perform reconstructive rearfoot and ankle procedures. Without certification, the scope of care narrows and care becomes fragmented. With it, I can manage the full course of a patient’s treatment, not just a portion of it.

This matters for the patients I am drawn to most: those with limb-threatening disease who cannot afford fragmentation. The diabetic patient with a heel ulcer does not need three different specialists, appointments weeks apart, and uncertainty in between. They need one surgeon who can debride, reconstruct, offload, and follow through; someone who can take responsibility for the entire arc of their care and their ability to walk afterward. Board Certification allows me to be that surgeon.

As a woman entering surgery, I am also realistic about how authority is assigned. I have seen how some are assumed capable and others are required to repeatedly prove it. I do not intend to spend my career justifying my right to be in the operating room. I want my training and my outcomes to speak before I do. ABFAS Certification is not validation; it is recognition. It allows my skill to be understood without negotiation.

Throughout training, the most consistent advice I have received is simple: get certified early, and protect your autonomy. Not for prestige, but because the ability to act in the patient’s best interest should never depend on someone else’s permission. Board Certification ensures that when I make a decision, it comes from a foundation that has been examined, challenged, and proven.

And that is how it benefits patients. It creates continuity. It builds trust that is earned rather than assumed. It assures them that when I say I can help, it is because I have met the highest standard of surgical competence our field requires.

I know what it is to depend on someone’s clarity and expertise. Now, I intend to be the one who provides it.