Khushboo Golani, MD
My name is Khushboo Golani, and I am currently a second-year fellow at Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. My medical journey began in India at DY Patil Deemed to be University, School of Medicine. Growing up in the age of social media, I was fascinated how the use of diabetes technology was transforming children’s lives. This curiosity led me to travel across the ocean to the warm sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, where I began my pediatric residency at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama.
During residency, my fascination with pump technology and volunteering at diabetes camp, drew me to pursuing pediatric endocrinology. However, as I rotated through the endocrine department and encountered children with hormonal issues related to cancer diagnosis or treatment, my passion for this subspecialty grew. I realized that many pediatric cancer survivors face long-term endocrine disorders that significantly impact their quality of life and it motivated me to find ways to help them deal with these issues. Throughout my residency, my mentors—Drs. Anne-Marie Kaulfers, Whei Lim, and Melissa Perez—nurtured my interest and guided me along this path.
As I embarked on my fellowship, I became particularly interested in endocrine neoplasms and how endocrinologists can support children with these types of cancers. Whenever I shared my clinical and research interests, I was consistently referred to Dr. Steven Waguespack. This led me to walking across the street to University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Waguespack, who is a world renowned expert in thyroid cancers and rare endocrine neoplasms. With his guidance, along with the support of Dr. Luz Castellanos, I am currently studying how genetic alterations affect papillary thyroid cancers in the pediatric population. I am grateful to PES for their support of our project through the PES Rising Star Grant.
In addition, Drs. Alfonso Hoyos and Vincent Horne at Texas Children’s Hospital have been invaluable mentors when it came to endocrine follow-up for childhood cancer survivors. Together, we are investigating how Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) levels reflect ovarian reserve in children receiving gonadotoxic treatments. I am also fortunate to work with Dr. Athanssaki on a quality improvement project aimed at enhancing thyroid eye disease screening for children with Graves’ disease. Throughout my journey, my program director, Dr. Nidhi Bansal, has been a constant source of motivation, helping me connect with the right people and encouraging me to seize opportunities I had not previously considered.
I am truly excited to continue expanding my knowledge and research as a clinical researcher in pediatric endocrinology. I look forward to sharing the findings of the projects I’ve been privileged to work on and learning from others, as well as collaborating with other brilliant minds in our community of pediatric endocrinology. Above all, I hope my contributions can help improve the lives of children facing these challenging conditions.