Chris Westgarth-Taylor, MD

Meet Chris Westgarth-Taylor, MD

Prior to joining CHRISTUS Children’s, Dr. Chris Westgarth-Taylor was recruited from South Africa to be the Director of Colorectal Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Center for Colorectal and Pelvic reconstruction in Columbus, Ohio, in 2022. Before that he worked for more than a decade at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, South Africa, where he started the first dedicated pediatric colorectal and pelvic reconstruction unit in Africa which served a large population of patients with complex colorectal issues from all over Africa.

He is also a founding director of Surgeons for Little Lives, a charitable organization aimed at improving the care of pediatric surgical patients in South Africa. In this role, he has traveled extensively to multiple developing countries to operate and educate surgeons on advanced colorectal surgery. He has also been on faculty at many national and international colorectal congresses and authored numerous peer-reviewed pediatric colorectal surgery publications.

His areas of expertise include complex colorectal/urogenital recontructive surgery and revisions; bowel management for fecal incontinence. 

In his leisure time, Dr. Westgarth-Taylor enjoys playing paddle ball, pickleball and golf. He is married and has one daughter.