Ekene Onwuka, MD, MS

Dr. Onwuka is committed to providing excellent and compassionate care to neonatal and pediatric patients with diseases and conditions that require surgery. In addition to performing general neonatal and pediatric surgery, he is a member of the surgical oncology team at Texas Children's and is actively involved in caring for patients with sarcomas (rhabdomyosarcoma, non rhabdo-soft tissue sarcoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors and synovial cell sarcoma), renal tumors, neuroblastoma, thoracic tumors, liver cancer and other rare gastrointestinal malignancies. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University prior to earning his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine and completing adult general surgery training at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. During his residency training, Dr. Onwuka performed three years of basic science research in tissue engineering while also participating in various clinical research projects and obtaining a Master of Science degree in Medical Science. After residency, Dr. Onwuka completed specialty training in Pediatric Surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital, one of the busiest programs in the nation and one of the largest for the treatment of pediatric cancer.  

Clinical Interests: 

Pediatric surgical oncology 

Thoracic and abdominal minimally invasive surgery  

Endocrine disease 

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation 

Pediatric injury prevention and outcomes 

Research Interests: 

Onwuka performs translational and outcomes research in patients undergoing general surgery and surgical oncologic procedures. He is interested in the application of large databases to identify areas for improvement in care, especially in regards to socioeconomic and racial disparities. He was recently awarded funding from the Children’s Oncology Group and the Children’s Cancer Research Fund to study genetic ancestry as it pertains to outcomes in patients treated for rhabdomyosarcoma.