Dr. Uma R. Phatak is an Assistant Professor and Section Chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. She is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery.

Dr. Phatak obtained her medical degree at New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey, in 2009. She went on to begin her general surgery resident training at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Houston, Texas, in 2009.

After her second year of residency in 2011, Dr. Phatak was accepted to be a clinical research fellow in the Center for Surgical Trials and Evidence-Based Practice at UTHSC. Upon completing her fellowship in 2013, she earned her Master of Science in Clinical Research from UTHSC. She then continued her general surgery resident training at UTHSC, which she completed in 2016. She did a fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 2016-2017.

In 2017, Dr. Phatak became an Assistant Professor in Colon and Rectal Surgery at Boston University Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. A year later, she became the Clerkship Site Director for MS3 Colorectal Surgery Rotation where she taught medical students.

Dr. Phatak joined UTMB in 2020. She is a member of several national scientific societies in surgery, has authored over 15 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and three book chapters, and is a journal reviewer for three scientific journals.