Roberta L. DeBiasi, MD, MS is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. She holds appointments as tenured Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine as well as Principal Investigator in the Center for Translational Research within Children’s Research Institute.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Boston University, she received her Doctorate in Medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed Pediatrics internship and residency at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. She completed her fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado/Denver Children’s Hospital and served on the faculty for ten years in Denver, prior to joining Children’s National/GWU in 2005.
Dr. DeBiasi treats normal and immunocompromised children hospitalized with severe infections at Children’s National Hospital. She is designated as a Top Doctor for Northern Virginia and by Washingtonian Magazine. She is Co-Lead of the CNHS Emerging and Highly Contagious Infectious Disease Task Force (including Ebola and COVID-19), the Acute Flaccid Myelitis Task Force, and the CNHS Congenital Infection Program (including Zika virus), interfacing with regional, national and international authorities in these roles.
Dr. DeBiasi’s research expertise includes basic science as well as clinical/translational research. She serves as Principal Investigator for multiple projects and clinical trials focusing on severe and emerging viral infections, and Lyme Disease. Research awards have included the Infectious Diseases Society of America Young Investigator Award, as well as the John Horsley Prize from UVA. She co-leads Zika-focused research in the US and South America in pregnant women and infants. She is the institutional lead of the Lyme Clinical Trials Network, and PI for a study focused on long term outcomes in children with all stages of Lyme Disease. She leads COVID-19 and MIS-C research at Children’s National and is is Principal Investigator for a 6-year comprehensive follow up study of children with COVID-19 and MIS-C in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. DeBiasi has authored over 100 original peer-reviewed research, review articles, and book chapters. She greatly enjoys teaching and mentoring graduate and medical students, residents, and fellows in the classroom, the hospital wards, and in research. She is also actively engaged in continuing medical education for community physicians, outreach to the community, and educating the public via media appearances on NPR radio, local and national newspaper and television.
