Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, MD, MPH

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Get to know Pediatric Surgeon Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, who serves patients throughout the State of Texas.

A triple board-certified pediatric surgeon, Dr. Naik-Mathuria is experienced in treating patients with congenital anomalies, thoracic, and gastrointestinal diseases of childhood primarily using minimally invasive surgical options. She has specialized expertise in the treatment of pediatric trauma and pediatric surgical oncology.

Dr. Naik-Mathuria is the new Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery in the Department of Surgery at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, with active pediatric surgery practices at UTMB Health in Clear Lake and at UTMB Jennie Sealy Hospital in Galveston.

Recognized as a leader of pediatric surgery at UTMB, Dr. Naik-Mathuria is excited about programmatic development and research to ensure the highest quality of surgical care for the children and families in South Texas, to educate the next generation of surgeons, and to continue to advocate for child health and safety and health equity for all.

Her scope of services includes surgeries for a wide range of pediatric health conditions: among them, hernias, circumcisions, inflammatory bowel disease, chest wall deformities, cancer, thoracic problems, lung masses, cysts, congenital problems, and trauma.

Born and raised in Mombasa, Kenya, Dr. Naik-Mathuria immigrated to Houston with her family during high school and graduated from Clements High School in Sugar Land. She attended Trinity University in San Antonio where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double major (BS in Biology and BA in Psychology), then matriculated from medical school at Texas A+M Health Science Center where she was nominated to the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. She joined the general surgery residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston (2003-2009), where she spent an additional year doing a research fellowship in fetal wound healing.

Following completion of her residency, she moved to Los Angeles for a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (2009-2011). She was then recruited back to Baylor in the Division of Pediatric Surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital where she was given the opportunity to develop and lead the recently established Level I pediatric trauma program. She completed a second fellowship in surgical critical care and subsequently started the pediatric track of Baylor’s surgical critical care fellowship. 

A few years later, Dr. Naik-Mathuria obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She was promoted to Associate Professor at Baylor 6 years after completing training (2018).

Board-certified in general surgery, pediatric surgery and surgical critical care, the doctor is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery (ABS). The ABS is an independent, nonprofit organization founded in 1937 to provide board certification to individuals who have met a defined standard of education, training and knowledge in the field of surgery. 

Involved in several national surgical organizations at the leadership level, Dr. Naik-Mathuria is the current Chair of the Advocacy committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Surgery, the Vice-Chair of the Pediatric committee of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP).

In addition, she is a member of the American Pediatric Surgical Association, the Society of University Surgeons, the Pediatric Trauma Society, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Association for Academic Surgery, and the Eastern Association of the Society of Trauma.

An experienced and compassionate clinician, Dr. Naik-Mathuria is most passionate about caring for the most vulnerable – those affected by cancer or injury – and believes strongly in equitable, high-quality care for all. 

During the ten years that she worked at Texas Children’s Hospital, she specialized in surgical oncology and trauma in addition to practicing general neonatal and pediatric surgery. She received multiple awards during this time, including Texas Rising Star in Texas Monthly’s SuperDoctors (2018), Who’s Who in Medicine (2018), Best Doctors in Houston by Houstonia Magazine (2018, 2020, 2021), Texas SuperDoctors in Texas Monthly Magazine (2022). 

Her clinical academic excellence was awarded by Baylor College of Medicine through the Early Career Faculty Excellence Award (2017), the Women of Excellence Award (2020), and The Texas Children’s Hospital Department of Surgery Faculty Clinical Excellence Award (2020).

Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of surgery involving the surgery of fetuses, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. Pediatric surgeons are trained as general surgeons who then go on to get specialty training to perform surgery on children and neonates with various congenital and oncologic issues. 

Attributing her success to hard work, passion, great mentors and role models, Dr. Naik-Mathuria has authored over 100 publications and co-edited the primary textbook in pediatric trauma. 

In 2017, she was chosen as a Future Trauma Leader by the American College of Surgeons and is now considered a national leader in pediatric trauma. She has contributed to several national initiatives affecting the care of injured children and is frequently invited for national speaking engagements. 

Holding an R01 award from the Centers for Disease Control to understand the epidemiology of firearm injury and violence in Harris County (Houston), Dr. Naik-Mathuria was the only surgeon to be funded by CDC in the first round following a 24-year federal ban on firearm-related funding. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Houston Chronicle. 

A strong advocate for child firearm safety, she works with Houston city leadership and law enforcement through her leadership role on the Houston Mayor’s Commission Against Gun Violence. Additionally, she is a Fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in the Firearm Injury Prevention and Safety program.

With a special interest in global surgery and equity, Dr. Naik-Mathuria travels to Africa to the town where she grew up frequently to work with local pediatric surgeons to increase access to high-quality pediatric surgical care, train local pediatric surgical fellows and residents, and build local capacity. She also works with the Rice 360 and bioengineering program to create low-cost innovative solutions for surgical problems in low resource settings. 

In the future, she plans to start a global surgery program at UTMB and train passionate residents and students to be leaders in global surgery.

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