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Terence S. Dermody, MD

  • Vira I. Heinz Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pediatrics
  • Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Executive Assistant: Daniel Grantham
Project Coordinator: Lindsey Narron

Terence S. Dermody is the Vira I. Heinz Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and physician-in-chief and scientific director at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh where he leads a team of over 450 faculty members. He also is professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dermody received his B.S. degree from Cornell University and his M.D. degree from Columbia University. He completed an internal medicine residency at Presbyterian Hospital in New York and fellowships in infectious diseases and molecular virology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Prior to moving to Pittsburgh in 2016, Dermody was Dorothy Overall Wells Professor of Pediatrics and director of the Medical Scientist Training Program and Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

With over 40 years of experience in basic virology and viral pathogenesis research, at his core, Dermody is a virologist. Most of his research has focused on reovirus, an important experimental model for studies of viral encephalitis in the young. His research contributions have enhanced an understanding of how these viruses bind and enter into host cells, reprogram intracellular physiology to replicate, and disseminate in the host to cause organ-specific disease. He also has discovered a link between reovirus and blockade of immunologic tolerance to newly introduced food antigens. Dermody has published more than 300 articles, reviews, chapters, and editorials and has been recognized for his research accomplishments by the Vanderbilt Ernest W. Goodpasture Faculty Research Award, an NIH MERIT Award, and the American Society for Microbiology D. C. White Research and Mentoring Award.

Dermody is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology, American Pediatrics Society, American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, National Academy of Medicine, and Society for Pediatric Research and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is a past president of the American Society for Virology, past chair of the AAMC GREAT Group M.D.-Ph.D. Section Steering Committee, and past chair of the Virology Division of the International Union of Microbiological Societies. Dermody is Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Review of Virology.

Education & Training

  • BS with Honors and Distinction, Cornell University, 1978
  • MD, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1982
  • Internship in Medicine, Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, 1982-1983
  • Residency in Medicine, Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, 1983-1984
  • Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases, Beth Israel Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Children’s Hospital, 1985-1986
  • Research Fellow in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, 1986-1988

Selected Publications

Barton, E. S., Forrest, J. C., Connolly, J. L., Chappell, J. D., Liu, Y., Schnell, F. J., Nusrat, A., Parkos, C. A., and T. S. Dermody. Junction adhesion molecule is a receptor for reovirus. Cell 104,441-451, 2001. PMID: 11239401

Ebert, D. H., Deussing, J., Peters, C., and T. S. Dermody. Cathepsin L and cathepsin B mediate reovirus disassembly in murine fibroblast cells. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 24609-24617 (2002). PMID: 11986312

Kobayashi, T., Antar, A. A. R., Boehme, K. W., Danthi, P., Eby, E. A., Guglielmi, K. M., Holm, G. H., Johnson, E. M., Maginnis, M. S., Naik, S., Skelton, W. B., Wetzel, J. D., Wilson, G. J., Chappell, J. D., and T. S. Dermody. A plasmid-based reverse genetics system for animal double-stranded RNA viruses. Cell Host Microbe 1, 147-157 (2007). PMCID: PMC2034303

Antar, A. A. R., Konopka, J. L., Campbell, J. A., Henry, R. A., Perdigoto, A. L., Carter, B. D., Pozzi, A., Abel, T. W., and T. S. Dermody. Junctional adhesion molecule-A is required for hematogenous dissemination of reovirus. Cell Host Microbe. 5, 59-71 (2009). PMCID: PMC2642927

Konopka-Anstadt, J. L., Mainou, B. A., Sutherland, D. M, Sekine, Y., Strittmatter, S. M., and T. S. Dermody. The Nogo receptor NgR1 mediates infection by mammalian reovirus. Cell Host Microbe 15, 681-691 (2014). PMCID: PMC4100558

Bouziat, R., Hinterleitner, R., Brown, J. J., Stencel-Baerenwald, J. E., Ikizler, M., Mayassi, T., Meisel, M., Kim, S. M., Discepolo, V., Pruijssers, A. J., Ernest, J. D., Iskarpatyoti, J. A., Costes, L. M. M., Lawrence, I., Palanski, B. A., Varma, M., Zurenski, M. A., Khomandiak, S., McAllister, N., Aravamudhan, P., Boehme, K. W., Hu, F., Samsom, J. N., Reinecker, H.-C., Kupfer, S. S., Guandalini, S., Semrad, C. E., Abadie, V., Khosla, C., Barreiro, L. B., Xavier, R. J., Ng, A., Dermody, T. S.,* and B. Jabri.* Reovirus infection breaks tolerance to dietary antigens and promotes development of celiac disease. Science 356, 44-50 (2017). *Co-corresponding authors. PMCID: PMC5506690

Knowlton, J. J., Fernández, I., Ashbrook, A. W., Gestaut, D. R., Zamora, P. F., Bauer, J. A., Forrest, J. C., Frydman, J., Risco, C., and T. S. Dermody. The TRiC chaperonin controls reovirus replication through outer-capsid folding. Nat. Microbiol. 3, 481-493 (2018). PMCID: PMC5874176

Sutherland, D. M., Streßl, M., Koehler, M., Welsh, O. L., Yu, X., Hu, L., Dos Santos Natividade, R., Knowlton, J. J., Taylor, G. M., Moreno, R. A., Wörz, P., Lonergan, Z. R., Aravamudhan, P., Guzman-Cardozo, C., Kour, S., Pandey, U. B., Alsteens, D., Wang, Z., Prasad, B. V. V., Stehle, T., and T. S. Dermody. NgR1 binding to reovirus reveals an unusual bivalent interaction and a new viral attachment protein. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2219404120 (2023). PMCID: PMC10268256

Shang, P., Dos Santos Natividade, R., Taylor, G. M., Ray, A., Welsh, O. L., Fiske, K. L., Sutherland, D. M., Alsteens, D., and T. S. Dermody. NRP1 is a receptor for mammalian orthoreovirus engaged by distinct capsid subunits. Cell Host Microbe 32, 980-995 (2024). PMCID: PMC11176008

Somoulay, X., Treadaway, G. S., Hedayati, S., Steed, M. E., Adam, N. E., Williams, M. S., Parker, J. S. L., Woolford, J. L., Silva, L. A., Taylor, G. M., and T. S. Dermody. Ataxin-2-like promotes translation of nonpolyadenylated reovirus mRNA. Nat. Commun. 17,842 (2026). PMCID: PMC12827272

View ORCID Record ORCID » 

Academic and Research Interests

  • Virology
  • Viral pathogenesis
  • Viral receptors
  • Vaccine development
  • Reovirus
  • Viral encephalitis
  • Celiac disease
  • Genetic screens
  • Protein structure-function relationships
  • Mouse models of disease

Research Grants

2022-2027 “Reovirus Neuropathogenesis” (NIH-NIAID R01 AI174526-01 to -05). T. S. Dermody, P.I.

2023-2028 “Role of Gut Protists in Celiac Disease” (NIH-NIAID R01 AI168478-01 to -05). R. Hinterleitner, P.I., T. S. Dermody, Co-Investigator

2023-2028 “Enteric Virus-Microbiota Interactions” (NIH-NIAID R37 AI074668-15 to -19). J. Pfeiffer, P.I., T. S. Dermody, Co-Investigator

2025-2029 “Cell Biology of Reovirus Infection” (NIH-NIAID R01 AI032539-33 to -37). T. S. Dermody, P.I

2023-2027 “Molecular Basis of Pediatric Disease” (NIH-NICHD K12 HD052892-16 to -20). T. S. Dermody, P.I.

2025-2030 “Research Training Program for Pediatric Subspecialty Fellows” (NIH-NICHD T32 HD071834-11 to -15). T. S. Dermody, P.I.