Dr. George Gittes is the Benjamin R. Fisher Chair of Pediatric Surgery, Chief of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Surgeon-in-Chief Emeritus, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation Institute for Pediatric Research and Co-Director of Surgical Research, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Professor of Surgery and Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Gittes received his MD from Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.  He completed his surgical internship and residency at the University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.  He completed a fellowship at the Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO.  Dr. Gittes came to Pittsburgh in 2005 from Children’s Mercy Hospital and the University of Missouri Kansas City School Hospital and the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine, where he held the Thomas M. Holder/Keith W. Ashcraft Chair in Pediatric Surgical Research. He has long been actively involved in mentoring the next generation of scientific researchers.

Dr. Gittes’ research interest is in 1) Intra-amniotic Sildenafil to treat Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, 2) “Chemical Pancreatectomy” to treat chronic pancreatits, 3) Gene therapy to great Types I and II diabetes Mellitus, 4) Smad regulation of pancreatic islet formation.

Dr. Gittes has received numerous honors and awards, most notably: Best Doctors in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Magazine, 2016 – 2022; Honorary Professor, Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, 2016; Most cited article of 2008 – 2010 in the Journal, Developmental Biology, Gittes, GK. Developmental Biology of the Pancreas: A Comprehensive Review. Dev. Biol 326:4-35, 2009; External site visitor, Packard Foundation Oversight of $500,000,000 support of Packard Children’s Hospital research, 2008; President, Society of University Surgeons, 2005-2006; NIH Study Section memberships, 2004-2008; One of four invited outside expert reviewers for the JDF $20 million grant to Harvard for the cure of Diabetes, 1998; Owen H. Wangensteen, MD, FACS Faculty Research Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons Fellowship ($30,000/yr for 2 years), 1998-2000; Ross Laboratories Resident Award for paper entitled “Initiation of Gastrin Expression During Development of the Mouse Pancreas,” 1992; First Prize, Resident Research Competition, University of California, San Francisco, 1992; First Prize, Resident Research Competition, University of California, San Francisco, 1991; NIH GI Training Grant, University of California, San Francisco, 1990-1992; Cum Laude, Harvard Medical School, 1987; and John Harvard Scholar, Harvard College, 1981 & 1982.

His current professional activities include involvement with Association of American Physicians; American College of Surgeons, Fellow; American Pediatric Surgical Association; American Surgical Association; Board of Trustees, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation; and Society of University Surgeons.

View a list of Dr. Gittes’ publications here.