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Melissa M. Riley, MD

  • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
  • Interim Medical Director, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
  • Medical Director, Neonatal Transport and Outreach, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

Melissa Riley received her MD degree from Northeastern Ohio Medical University and completed her pediatric residency and neonatology fellowship at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Following fellowship, she joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Newborn Medicine.

Riley has an outstanding record of leadership, program and educational development and clinical excellence. She served as Medical Director of Neonatal Transport and Outreach, advancing community partnerships and transport education, and neonatal advisor to the STAT MedEvac Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania. She went on to assume the role of Associate Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and then interim Medical Director. She has a strong commitment to, and history of, quality improvement initiatives. She is active within the national neonatal quality improvement association, the Children’s Hospital Neonatal Consortium, leading efforts around nosocomial infection prevention. Among other initiatives, she has been a strong advocate for useof breast milk, on the advisory board of the Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank. She is an enthusiastic and highly respected neonatologist dedicated to academic medicine and high-quality patient care.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • American Academy of Pediatrics
    • Fellow, 2005-Present 
    • Section on Perinatal Pediatrics, 2010-Present 
    • Section on Transport Medicine, 2011-Present 

Education & Training

  • BS, Youngstown State University, 2001
  • MD, Northeastern Ohio Medical University, 2005
  • Residency in Pediatrics, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2005-2008
  • Fellowship in PANeonatology, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2008-2011

Selected Publications

Liang J, Alfano DN, Squires JE, Riley MM, Parks WT, Kofler J, ElGharbawy A, Madan-Kheterpal S, Acquaro R, Picarsic J (2017). Novel NLRC4 Mutation Causes a Syndrome of Perinatal Autoinflammation With Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis, Hepatosplenomegaly, Fetal Thrombotic Vasculopathy, and Congenital Anemia and Ascited. Pediatr Dev Pathol, 2017 Jan 1. PMID: 28403691. 

Frazer LC, Scurlock AM, Zurenski MA, Riley MM, Mintus M, Pociask DA, Sullivan JE, Andrews CW, Darville T (2013). IL-23 Induces IL-22 and IL-17 Production in Response to Chlamydia muridarum Genital Tract Infection, but the Absence of these Cytokines does not Influence Disease Pathogenesis. Am J Reprod Immunol, 2013 Dec;70(6): 472-84. PMID: 24238108. 

Sen P, Yang Y, Navarro C, Silva I, Szafranski P, Kolodziejska KE, Dharmadhikari AV, Mostafa H, Kozakewich H, Kearney D, Cahill JB, Whitt M, Bilic M, Margraf L, Charles A, Goldblatt J, Gibson K, Lantz PE, Garvin AJ, Petty J, Kiblawi Z, Zuppan C, McConkie-Rosell A, McDonald MT, Peterson-Carmichael SL, Gaede JT, Shivanna B, Schady D, Friedlich PS, Hays SR, Palafoll IV, Siebers-Renelt U, Bohring A, Finn LS, Siebert JR, Galambos C, Nguyen L, Riley M, Chassaing N, Vigouroux A, Rocha G, Fernandes S, Brumbaugh J, Roberts K, Ho-Ming L, Lo IF, Lam S, Gerychova R, Jezova M, Valaskova I, Fellmann F, Afshar K, Giannoni E, Muhlethaler V, Liang J, Beckmann JS, Lioy J, Deshmukh H, Srinivasan L, Swarr DT, Sloman M, Shaw-Smith C, van Loon RL, Hagman C, Sznajer Y, Barrea C, Galant C, Detaille T, Wambach JA, Cole FS, Hamvas A, Prince LS, Diderich KE, Brooks AS, Verdijk RM, Ravindranathan H, Sugo E, Mowat D, Baker ML, Langston C, Welty S, Stankiewicz P. (2013). Novel FOXF1 Mutations in Sporadic and Familial Cases of Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia with Misaligned Pulmonary Veins Imply a Role for its DNA Binding Domain. Hum Mutat, 2013 Jun;34(6), 801-11. PMID: 23505205 

Riley MM, Zurenski MA, Frazer LC, O'Connell CM, Andrews CW, Mintus M, & Darville T (2012). The recall response induced by genital challenge with Chlamydia muridarum protects the oviduct from pathology but not from reinfection. Infect Immun, 2012 Jun;80(6), 2194-203. PMID: 22431649.

Full Publication List via NIH PubMed »

Academic and Research Interests

  • Neonatal transport  
  • Community outreach and education 
  • Reducing length of stay for neonates with gastroschisis 
  • Breastmilk and the NICU infant 
  • Quality improvement

Research Grants

Department of Pediatrics, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Identifying Infants who are at High Risk for Necrotizing Enterocolitis, (PI, 1% effort), 2015-Present, Startup funds to Dr. Misty Good, Unfunded role

1U01NS092764, HEAL High-does Erythropoietin for Asphyxia and Encephalopathy, (PI, 1% effort), 2017-2021, unfunded role