Email

ckoh@bcm.edu

Positions

Professor

Urology
Pediatric Urology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US
Founder, Pediatric Robotic Surgery Program; Former Program Director, Pediatric Urology Fellowship

Faculty Senate Chair

Baylor College of Medicine

Member, Board of Directors

Korean American Medical Association

Executive Director

SWPDC

Advisory Council Member and PI

Texas Children's Research Institute

Managing Director, Pediatric Session Director

North American Robotic Urology Society (NARUS)

Addresses

BCM Scott Department of Urology (Office)

7200 Cambridge St, 10th Floor
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Phone: (713) 798-3498
Fax: (713) 798-5553
ckoh@bcm.edu

TCRI - Feigin Tower (Lab)

1102 Bates Ave, C.0430.03
Houston, TX 77030
United States
ckoh@bcm.edu

Education

BS from UC Berkeley

Berkeley, California United States

Mechanical Engineering

MD from Tufts University School of Medicine

Boston, Massachusetts United States

Medicine

Internship at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

Los Angeles, CA

Surgery

Residency at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

Los Angeles, CA

Urology

Fellowship at Harvard Medical School - Children's Hospital

Boston, MA

Pediatric Urology

MBA from University of Illinois Gies College of Business

Champaign, IL

Certifications

Board Certification - Urology

American Board of Urology

Board Certification (CAQ) - Pediatric Urology

American Board of Urology

Professional Interests

• Pediatric Medical Device Development
• Robotic Surgery / Minimally Invasive Surgery in Children
• Pediatric Urology
• Urology Research

Professional Statement

Dr. Chester Koh is a pediatric urologist and tenured Professor of Urology, Pediatrics, and OB/GYN at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Texas Children’s Research Institute, and a “physicianeer” with 30 years of experience in both medicine and engineering. He completed his MBA degree at University of Illinois Gies College of Business in May 2023. He served as the Director of the ACGME-accredited Pediatric Urology Fellowship Program for a decade (2014-2023) and currently serves as a TMC Venture Fund Investment Advisory Committee member, Texas A&M Biomedical Engineering Department External Advisory Board Member, and Rice University Department of Bioengineering Adjunct Professor. He is also the founder of the Pediatric Robotic Surgery Programs at Texas Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as well as the BCM Faculty Senate Chair (7/2025 - 6/2027 – ~6,000 faculty members). In addition, from 2022-2024, he served as the Board Chair of the Korean American Medical Association, a national non-profit professional organization that is part of the American Medical Association (AMA) Specialty and Service Society. He also serves as the BCM / UH member of the Integration Across the Lifespan Enterprise Committee for the CTSA at BCM /UH (CTPH). From a training standpoint, he also serves as the Professional Development Core co-PI and Urology Lead for HAI-KUH (Houston Area Incubator for Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Research Training), a NIH / NIDDK Institutional Network Award for Promoting Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Research Training (U2C-TL1) site in Houston, Texas. He has founded or upgraded several programs in pediatric robotic surgery, pediatric device development, clinical and basic science research, and graduate medical education over the past 2 decades.

His clinical area of expertise is in pediatric urology and in minimally invasive surgery in children, especially with robotic surgery and the pediatric device needs in this area. He currently serves on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Advances in Therapeutics and Technology leadership committee and has served on the executive committees of the AAP Section on Urology, the Societies of Pediatric Urology and the Journal of Urology Pediatric Editorial Committee. He also has been a NIH / NIDDK-funded principal investigator for research in bladder tissue engineering / regeneration / inflammation and other non-cancer urologic conditions.

His current primary research area is in pediatric medical device engineering and innovation, as the FDA has recognized that pediatric devices lag adult device development by 5 – 10 years. He is the founder, executive director and contact principal investigator of the Southwest-Midwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC) based at TCH / BCM which is supported by a second 5-year $7M FDA P50 grant, as well as the founder of his previous consortium, Consortium for Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP – CHLA/USC and Lurie Children’s). Both are FDA-funded pediatric device consortia that are dedicated to improving children’s health by supporting pediatric device innovators to create novel pediatric medical devices with local, regional, and national institutional and innovation partners. He has also served as co-PI on NIH / NIDDK SBIR grants for novel pediatric urologic devices in partnership with Rice, Texas A&M, and Fannin Innovation Studio.

Websites

Funding

Southwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium - #P50FD007962

(09/01/2023 - 08/31/2028) Grant funding from FDA

The Southwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC) is a FDA P50 grant-supported multi-institutional consortium that includes TCH and BCM, Texas A&M, Rice, University of Houston, and University of Minnesota. SWPDC is dedicated to improving children’s health by supporting pediatric device innovators in creating novel pediatric medical devices with local, regional, and national institutional and innovation partners.

Consortium for Translational and Precision Health - #UM1TR004539

(09/01/2024 - 07/31/2031) Grant funding from NIH / NCATS / CTSA

Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and the University of Houston (UH) have come together to form the Consortium for Translational and Precision Health. Our goal is to build on the strengths of BCM in basic and genomic science with the strengths of UH in the science of spreading information, entrepreneurship, pharmaceutical science, and community engagement. We will form a highly impactful organization that promotes the development of new ways to work on local and national health needs and reduces the time it takes for research discoveries to reach the doctor’s office, so it can help the right person at the right time.

Houston Area Incubator for Kidney-Urology-Hematology Research - #U2CDK143942

(09/01/2025 - 05/31/2030) Grant funding from NIH - NIDDK

The Houston Area Incubator for Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Research Training (HAI-KUH) aims to develop a highly qualified workforce of dedicated research professionals to improve the health and quality of life of patients with nonmalignant kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases. Through our robust network of KUH researchers from multiple Houston institutions and a variety of scientific backgrounds, we will collaborate to not only expand existing efforts but seize the opportunity to support a range of career paths, promote interdisciplinary research, and bring training excellence to graduate students and postdoctoral and clinical fellows to KUH mission areas.

Languages

Korean, Spanish