Dr. Saimun Singla, DO

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Get to know Pediatric Rheumatologist Dr. Saimun Singla, who serves patients in Houston, Texas.

A dual board-certified pediatric rheumatologist, Dr. Singla is the Founder of Rheum to Grow in Houston, Texas. What makes her unique is that she is the only pediatric subspecialist in Houston who is fellowship-trained and board-eligible in integrative medicine. 

In contrast to traditional medical practices where the primary focus is often on managing sick symptoms, Dr. Singla uses an integrative approach to treat children with chronic rheumatic conditions. This means tending to each child’s short and long-term needs by incorporating conventional therapies as well as complementary practices, all based on evidence. In addition to the use of labs, imaging, medications, and procedures, she addresses various factors that affect a child’s health—the often-overlooked areas that can aggravate or alleviate chronic illness. These include their dietary patterns, exercise, sleep, stress, environment, emotional/self-regulatory abilities, resilience, and social support. This whole child approach makes their input an integral part of each visit, which teaches them independent coping skills early on. She not only optimizes acute disease management, but also chronic. 

In regards to her educational background, Dr. Singla graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. She then went on to earn her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth, where she graduated as a member of Sigma Sigma Phi, a national osteopathic honor society for high degree of scholastic achievement in medical school.

Furthering her training, she completed a 3-year general pediatrics residency at The University of Chicago, followed by a 3-year fellowship in pediatric rheumatology at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She also completed extra training in Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome/Chronic Pain at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as a 2-year fellowship in integrative medicine at The University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.

As a testament to her success, the doctor is board-certified in pediatrics and pediatric rheumatology by the American Osteopathic Board of Pediatrics (AOBP). The AOBP is one of the eighteen approved specialty boards of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA).

Before founding Rheum to Grow, Dr. Singla was an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Rheumatology for five years at Texas Children’s Hospital. This gave her incredible insight into caring for chronically ill children. During this time, she was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis herself. As a patient of her own expertise, she gained first-hand knowledge of the ups and downs of living with a chronic illness as well as the giant gaps in care that conventional medicine left unanswered. That is when Dr. Singla realized she was practicing and living in a “sick care model” that focused on acute disease management rather than broadening it to also include disease prevention and health maintenance. This moment was the birth of Rheum to Grow. 

Dr. Singla’s goal is to move the needle on caring for children with rheumatic disease by changing their mindset from health as a destination to health as a journey—one that requires adaptability, proactivity, and responsibility. At Rheum to Grow, patients learn to understand the details of their disease and are taught to observe the interplay of their illness with lifestyle choices, such as sleep, nutrition, exercise, along with their mental health, social support, and resiliency. These are all things Dr. Singla learned in and out of the white coat and is passionate about passing onto her patients. She loves what she does, and she takes tremendous joy in getting to know her patients and their families!

Attraining membership status of several professional affiliations, Dr. Singla is an active member of the American College of Rheumatology and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Pediatric rheumatology is a specialized field of medicine that treats children who suffer from pain in the musculoskeletal system and autoimmune disorders, the majority of which cause inflammation. Pediatric rheumatologists evaluate, diagnose, and treat conditions such as: autoimmune disorders, including juvenile idiopathic arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, post-infectious arthritis, and chronic vasculitis; inflammatory disorders of the muscle, eye or other organs; unexplained chronic musculoskeletal pain, weakness, poor appetite, fatigue, and/or loss of function or skills; and unexplained symptoms such as a fever that won’t go away, anemia, rash, weight loss or joint swelling.

Among her most notable achievements, Dr. Singla was awarded the Provider Excellence Award at Texas Children’s Hospital for ranking above the 99th percentile on family-centered care and communication.

In her personal life, she is a wife and mother to three very active school-aged children. She and her husband, an Emergency Medicine physician, are both native Houstonians. In her spare time, she enjoys drawing, painting, home décor, traveling, and trying new places to eat. She is also fond of running, but refuses to run a full marathon. 

Dr. Singla is a mentor to many students from the high school level all the way to fellowship training. She especially loves empowering young trainees with the mindset “If you can dream it, you can do it.”

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