Dr. Maria Mascarenhas is an internationally recognized leader in integrative medicine within pediatrics and pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition. Dr. Mascarenhas received her medical degree from St John’s Medical College in India and completed her pediatric training at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. She completed her fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Mascarenhas is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Throughout her career, she has pursued additional training in pediatric massage, Ayurvedic nutrition, auricular acupressure, clinical hypnosis, and tapping as part of her focus on integrative care.

Dr. Mascarenhas currently serves as the Section Chief of Nutrition in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and Medical Director of the Integrative Health Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Mascarenhas is a member of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health and serves on the Fellowship Recognition Committee. Dr. Mascarenhas is widely published on a variety of topics within gastroenterology and integrative medicine, including cystic fibrosis, nutrition support, culinary medicine, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. In addition to her many publications, she is the author of “The Anti-Inflammatory Family Cookbook,” which guides patients and families in optimizing nutrition.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Mascarenhas has received a number of honors for this work, including the Margaret Stallings Distinguished Service Award for NASPGHAN in 2023 and was inducted into the Academy of Master Clinicians at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania in 2026.