Dr. Thomas Diacovo is the Chief, Division of Newborn Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and Director of Neonatal Cardiovascular Research at the Heart Institute.  Prior to his appointment to UPMC in April 2018, Dr. Diacovo was affiliated with Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, holding the positions of Associate Chief of Neonatology, Division Neonatology and Perinatology, Department of Pediatrics; Professor (tenured), Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology and Cell Biology; and Director Neonatal Research, Division Neonatology and Perinatology, Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Diacovo attended McGill University, Montreal, Canada, where he obtained his BSc (Honors Biochemistry) and MD.  He conducted his medical internship/residency at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.  He completed clinical/research fellowships at Harvard University, Boston, MA.

Dr. Diacovo received multiple awards for his scientific achievements including the Kenneth M. Brinkhous Young Investigator Prize in Thrombosis (AHA), Lewis Katz Prize in Cardiovascular Medicine for outstanding basic science research in cardiovascular medicine (Columbia University), NYS Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation Award (NYSTAR), and Columbia–Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program Award. In addition, he has been asked to serve on several local, national, and international committees that involve improving healthcare for critically-ill neonates. These include the Pediatric Cardiovascular Think Tank sponsored by the Duke University Clinical Research Institute to address issues related to pediatric cardiovascular drug development and the International Neonatal Consortium for Drug Development sponsored by C-PATH and the FDA/EMA for which he is co-chair of the database group and is involved in developing national and international drug trials for NICU patients.

Dr. Diacovo presently is a member of the following professional organizations:

• American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
• International Neonatal Consortium (INC)
• North American Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis
• American Chemical Society
• American Heart Association
• American Society of Hematology
• Society of Pediatric Research (elected)
• International Society for Thrombosis and Hemostasis

Dr. Diacovo’s research interests include:

• Understanding and exploiting the biophysical properties of protein interactions that support platelet-mediated thrombosis
• Developing mouse avatar models to study human platelet function and drug response in vivo.
• Clinical trial development for testing of novel antithrombotic agents in at risk neonates with congenital heart disease.
• Deciphering the role of the class I phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K) signaling pathway in inflammation and in hematological malignances

View a list of Dr. Diacovo’s publications here.