Puja Umaretiya, M.D.

Puja J. Umaretiya, M.D., M.S., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology and Oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2023.

Dr. Umaretiya earned her Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona and earned her medical degree at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. She completed her pediatric residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program (Boston Children's Hospital and Boston Medical Center) and subsequently completed dual fellowships in pediatric palliative care and pediatric hematology/oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Umaretiya has additionally completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care and a Master of Science in Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. While at Dana-Farber, she conducted her postdoctoral research training under the mentorship of Dr. Kira Bona and Dr. Joanne Wolfe.

Dr. Umaretiya's research focuses on identifying and addressing social determinants of health that drive racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities experienced by children and parents during childhood cancer treatment. She has a particular interest in the advanced cancer population and clinical trial decision-making. Dr. Umaretiya ultimately aims to develop social needs-targeted interventions that enhance the well-being of historically marginalized children and their families. She has received extramural funding to support her research, including an American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Young Investigator Award, ASCO Career Development Award, Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group Pilot Award, and the National Palliative Care Research Center Kornfeld Scholars Award. 

Medical School

Mayo Medical School (2015)

Residency

Boston Medical Center/Boston Children's Hospital (2018), Pediatrics

Fellowship

Massachusetts General Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (2019), Hospice & Palliative Medicine

Fellowship

Boston Children's Hospital/ Boston Medical Center (2022), Pediatric Hematology/oncology

Other Post Graduate Training

Harvard School of Public Health (2022)

• racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in pediatric oncology; patient and family-reported outcomes; social needs interventions

Featured Publications

"It's a lot of things": Household material hardship among Black and Hispanic parents of children with cancer.

Valenzuela A, Hawkins A, Revette A, Chen L, Xiong N, Mazzola E, Eche IJ, Karvonen K, Snaman JM, Wolfe J, Bona K, Umaretiya PJ, Pediatr Blood Cancer 2023 Jun e30485

Disparities in parental distress in a multicenter clinical trial for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Umaretiya PJ, Koch VB, Flamand Y, Aziz-Bose R, Ilcisin L, Valenzuela A, Cole PD, Gennarini LM, Kahn JM, Kelly KM, Tran TH, Michon B, Welch JJG, Wolfe J, Silverman LB, Bona K, J Natl Cancer Inst 2023 Jun

"The simple life experiences that every other human gets": Desire for normalcy among adolescents and young adults with advanced cancer.

Umaretiya PJ, Fisher L, Altschuler A, Kushi LH, Chao CR, Vega B, Rodrigues G, Josephs I, Brock KE, Buchanan S, Casperson M, Fasciano KM, Kolevska T, Lakin JR, Lefebvre A, Schwartz CM, Shalman DM, Wall CB, Wiener L, Bona K, Mack JW, Pediatr Blood Cancer 2023 Jan 70 1 e30035

A Structural Racism Framework to Guide Health Equity Interventions in Pediatric Oncology.

Umaretiya PJ, Vinci RJ, Bona K, Pediatrics 2022 May 149 5

Naming the Problem: A Structural Racism Framework to Examine Disparities in Palliative Care.

Umaretiya PJ, Wolfe J, Bona K, J Pain Symptom Manage 2022 May 63 5 e461-e463

Missing Voices: Lessons Learned from Nonparticipating Caregivers in Palliative Care Research.

Umaretiya PJ, Ilowite M, Fisher L, Bakitas M, Currie ER, Gilbertson-White S, Lindley L, Roeland EJ, Mack JW, Bona K, J Palliat Med 2022 Mar 25 3 455-460

Race, ethnicity, and goal-concordance of end-of-life palliative care in pediatric oncology.

Umaretiya PJ, Li A, McGovern A, Ma C, Wolfe J, Bona K, Cancer 2021 Oct 127 20 3893-3900

PediCARE: Development of a poverty-targeted intervention for pediatric cancer.

Umaretiya PJ, Revette A, Seo A, Flamand Y, Ilcisin L, Zheng DJ, Bhatia S, Wolfe J, Bona K, Pediatr Blood Cancer 2021 Oct 68 10 e29195

Learning to listen: A plea to our profession.

Umaretiya PJ, Tsai JW, Pediatr Blood Cancer 2021 Aug 68 8 e29150

Inequitable Poverty Exposures: A Subspecialty Opportunity to Address Disparities.

Karvonen KA, Umaretiya PJ, Koch VB, Flamand Y, Aziz-Bose R, Ilcisin L, Valenzuela A, Cole PD, Gennarini LM, Kahn JM, Kelly KM, Tran TH, Michon B, Welch JJG, Wolfe J, Silverman LB, Rosenberg AR, Bona K, Hosp Pediatr 2024 Feb 14 2 e104-e106

• ASCO Career Development Award
  (2024)
• UTSW Dean's Clinical Scholar Award
  (2024)
• National Palliative Care Research Center Kornfeld Scholars Award
  (2023)
• ASCO Young Investigator Award
  (2022-2023)