University of Pittsburgh logo

Raymond D. Pitetti, MD, MPH, FAAP

  • Division Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine
  • Professor of Pediatrics
  • Medical Director, Patient Safety
  • Patient Safety Officer

Administrative Assistant: Deborah Irwin

Raymond D Pitetti, MD, MPH, is the Director of the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. As an undergraduate, Dr. Pitetti attended The University of Pennsylvania, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering in 1987. He received his Medical Degree from Temple University School of Medicine in 1992. He completed his internship and residency in Pediatrics at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and a fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He joined the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in 1998. During his fellowship training, Dr. Pitetti also completed a Master of Public Health at The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

Dr. Pitetti is dedicated to excellence in medical education and has been deeply and consistently involved in the education of APP students, medical students, residents and fellows throughout his career in Pittsburgh. He been involved in bedside teaching as well as lecture-based education over his 20 years at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. His dedication to teaching includes his administrative roles in the development of various rotations in the Emergency Department at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh as well as his time spent lecturing at various schools throughout the area. He holds multiple adjunct professorships in advanced practice provider programs at local universities and colleges. His academic interests have pertained to the evaluation and management of children presenting to the emergency department with an apparent life threatening event as well as the use of procedural sedation for the performance of painful procedures in children.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • Allegheny County Medical Society, 1995-1998
  • American Academy of Pediatrics, 2019-Present
  • American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Emergency Medicine, 2019-Present
  • Society for Pediatric Research, 2005-Present
  • Society for Pediatric Sedation, 2009-Present
  • American College of Physician Executives, 2014-Present
  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine North American Chiefs, 2019-Present
  • Association of Pediatric Program Directors, 2019-Present
  • Pennsylvania Medical Society, 2020-Present
  • Allegheny County Medical Society, 2020-Present
  • American Association for Emergency Psychiatry, 2022-Present

Education & Training

  • BSE, Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 1987
  • MD, Temple University School of Medicine, 1992
  • MPH, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, 1998
  • Internship in Pediatrics, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, 1992-1993
  • Residency in Pediatrics, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, 1993-1995
  • Fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 1995-1998

Selected Publications

Iyer M, Vitale M and Pitetti RD.  Higher Mallampati scores are not associated with more adverse events during pediatric procedural sedation and analgesia.  The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine 2018;19(2):430-436.  

Ramgopal, S, Hickey, R, and Pitetti RD.  Dog bites in a US county: Age, body part, and breed in pediatric dog bites.  Acta Paediatrica, in press.

Ramgopal S, Noorbakhsh K, Callaway C, Wilson P and Pitetti RD.  Guideline-related management changes in children with Brief Resolved Unexplained Events (BRUE).  Pediatrics, in press.

Chiang E, Afandi O, Lee SH, Suresh S, Pitetti RD and Ramgopal S.  Inpatient use of racemic epinephrine for children admitted with croup.  World J Pediatr, in press.

Ramgopal S, Soung J, and Pitetti RD.  Brief resolved unexplained events: Analysis of an apparent life-threatening event database.  Academic Pediatrics, in press.

S.Kapoor MBBS, A Eldib MBBS, J Hiasat MBBS, H Scanga BSc, J Tomasello BSc, M Alabek, K Ament, D Arner, A Benson, K Berret, B Blaha, M Brinza, R Caterino, B Chauhan, W Churchfield, C Fulwylie, J Gruszewski, D Hrinak, L Johnston, C Meyer, K Nanda, T Newton, B Pomycala, L Runkel, K Sanchez, S Skellett, J Steigerwald, E Mitchell MD, M Pihlblad MD, C Luchansky Do, E Keim DO, J.Yu MD, P. Quinn BSc, A. Mittal BSc, R Pitetti MD, P. Patil-Chhablani MBBS, A Liasis PhD, KK Nischal MD, FAAP ,FRCOphth. Developing a pediatric ophthalmology telemedicine program in the COVID-19 crisis.  Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, in press.

Ramgopal S, Colgan JY, Roland D, Pitetti RD and Katsogridakis Y.  Brief resolved unexplained events: A new diagnosis, with implications for evaluation and management.  Eur J Pediatr, Vol.:(0123456789)1 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-021-04234-5.

Schmucker K, Zuckerbraun N, Vitale M, Hickey R, Callaway C, Pitetti R, Saladino R and Manole M. Increased fellow scholarly publication rate after implementation of a comprehensive research curriculum and milestone-based research timeline for pediatric emergency medicine fellows. Pediatr Emerg Care 2022;Apr 27. doi:10.1097/PEC.0000000000002715.

Gina M. Sequeira, MD, MS, Kacie M Kidd MD, MS, Caitlin Thornburgh MSW, LSWAIC, Alexandra Ley MSW, LSW, Darci Sciulli MSN, RN, Megan Clapp MSN, RN, Raymond Pitetti MD, MPH, Loreta Matheo, MD, Heather Womeldorff MSN, RN, Dimitri A. Christakis MD, MPH, Noel S. Zuckerbraun MD, MPH.  Increasing the Frequency of Name and Pronoun Documentation in the Pediatric Emergency Department. Hospital Pediatrics, October, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1542/hpeds.2022-006818

Cramer N, Aspiotes CR and Pitetti R. Ferret bite causing a near-death in an infant: An opportunity for paediatric advocacy. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, in press.

Academic and Research Interests

  • Sedation
  • Behavioral health
  • BRUE
  • Apparent life threatening events