Binita M. Kamath MBBChir, MRCP, MTR

Dr. Binita M. Kamath, MBBChir, MRCP, MTR, is Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and a board-certified pediatric gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She is also a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kamath joined CHOP on June 1, 2024, after a previous role as Interim Division Head of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While at the Hospital for Sick Children, Dr. Kamath also served as the Division’s Fellowship Program Director and as Senior Associate Scientist with the hospital’s Research Institute. Before her time in Canada, Dr. Kamath worked as an attending gastroenterologist at CHOP.

Dr. Kamath is an international leader and world-renowned expert in pediatric hepatology, with a special focus on cholestatic and inherited liver disorders in children. She has lectured extensively about topics including Alagille syndrome, biliary atresia, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and other rare liver diseases, as well as treatments for liver diseases, including liver transplantation.

Her primary interest is Alagille syndrome, reflecting her training at CHOP, an international leader in Alagille syndrome research. Alagille syndrome is an inherited liver disorder that affects the body’s ability to properly process bile and can cause distinctive facial features and problems that affect the heart, eyes, bones, kidneys, vasculature, and other organs. Dr. Kamath’s research seeks to understand the phenotypic manifestations of Alagille syndrome, genotype-phenotype relationships, and the natural history of this condition. 

In 2018, Dr. Kamath established a global international research database of Alagille syndrome patients, referred to as the GALA study. This database now houses information on more than 1,700 patients with Alagille syndrome from 90 centers in 35 countries – the largest dataset for this condition. She runs a basic science laboratory that focuses on differentiating bile duct cells (cholangiocytes) from stem cells as a model to understand the molecular basis for liver diseases. An additional area of research Dr. Kamath has focused on involves the study of frailty and sarcopenia (muscle wasting) in children with liver disease, a relatively understudied topic.

Dr. Kamath has held major leadership roles in several national and international professional societies, including the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN), the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the Canadian Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and the Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN).