Sandra K. Kabagambe, MD

As a board-certified pediatric surgeon, Sandra Kabagambe, MD, specializes in performing surgery on infants and children. Her expertise includes:

• Pediatric general and thoracic (chest) surgery
• Surgical management of birth defects
• Minimally invasive surgery in infants and children

She shares, “I remind myself that I am a human privileged to be entrusted with the wellbeing of another human. Therefore, I’m under the obligation to provide the best possible compassionate care within the scope of my specialty.”

Dr. Kabagambe was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly known as Zaire. She moved to Alexandria, Virginia, at the age of 16. After high school, she moved to Charlottesville to earn her undergraduate degree at UVA.

Dr. Kabagambe spent a year in Washington, D.C., doing research at Georgetown University before moving to Kentucky to attend the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She then completed surgical residency training at the University of California, Davis, followed by pediatric surgical fellowship training at Columbia University/New York Presbyterian in New York City. She joined the UVA faculty in 2021.

“I’m happy to return to Virginia and excited to join the University of Virginia Department of Surgery,” she shares. “My experience growing up, and as a patient in a region with limited access to state-of-the-art medical care, made me realize that I wanted to have the necessary skills, authority, and resources to make the best care available to other children, regardless of their socioeconomic and regional background.”