Nawara Alawa, MD, MPH, MCSO

Dr. Alawa is dedicated to providing advanced, compassionate care to critically ill and medically complex children. With extensive training in pediatric intensive care medicine, Dr. Alawa plays a vital role in stabilizing and managing life-threatening conditions in infants, children, and adolescents within the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

In addition to bedside care, Dr. Alawa is deeply engaged in clinical operations and systems engineering within pediatric critical care. Her extra-clinical work focuses on optimizing ICU workflows, enhancing resource utilization, and implementing data-driven strategies to improve operational efficiency and patient safety. Dr. Alawa collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to streamline care delivery, reduce variability in critical care practices, and apply systems thinking to address challenges in high-acuity environments. Her approach blends clinical expertise with quality improvement methodologies and health systems science, aiming to create scalable, sustainable improvements in care delivery.

Personal Statement

Practicing pediatric intensive care is both a privilege and a profound responsibility. Every day, I step into a space where vulnerability, uncertainty, and hope coexist. The PICU is not just a place of advanced technology and rapid decision-making—it is a place where families entrust us with their greatest fears and their greatest loves. I do not take that trust lightly.

To me, pediatric critical care is the art of holding complexity with clarity and compassion. It is a discipline that demands constant vigilance, humility, and the willingness to confront the limits of medicine while still offering presence and purpose. I believe that technical skill must always be balanced by deep human connection—that stabilizing a child’s physiology is only part of the work; supporting the emotional and existential experience of illness is equally essential.

I am drawn to systems: the intricacies of a child’s physiology, the dynamics of a multidisciplinary team, the architecture of a hospital’s operations. I believe the way we design care systems—how we communicate, how we lead, how we adapt—directly impacts outcomes. Efficiency without empathy is hollow; empathy without structure is fragile. I strive to bring both into my practice.

In the most intense moments—when the outcome is uncertain, and the stakes are unimaginably high—I remind myself that our role is not to fix everything, but to be fully present, informed, and honest. To do everything that medicine allows, and nothing it should not. And above all, to treat each patient not as a case, but as a child with a story, a family, and a future worth fighting for.

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Education

School	Education	Degree	Year
Harvard Medical School	Masters	Master of Science in Clinical Service Operations	2025
Boston Children's Hospital	Fellowship	Pediatric Critical Care	2024
Baylor College of Medicine	Residency	Pediatrics	2021
University of Miami Medical School	Medical School	Doctor of Medicine	2018
University of Miami	Bachelors	Bachelor of Science	2013

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Organizations

Organization Name	Role
Society of Critical Care Medicine	Member

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Board Certification

Title
American Board of Pediatrics

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* Texas Children’s Hospital physicians’ licenses and credentials are reviewed prior to practicing at any of our facilities. Sections titled From the Doctor, Professional Organizations and Publications were provided by the physician’s office and were not verified by Texas Children’s Hospital.

Research interests

Human factors engineering, systems engineering, clinical operations