Basil John Zitelli MD

Basil J. Zitelli, MD is chief of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh's Diagnostic Service since 2002, has overseen an expansion of the division and witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of the hospitalist and other services it offers patients and community physicians throughout the region.

Dr. Zitelli, a native of Pittsburgh, joined Children's Hospital's Diagnostic Service in 1978. The same year, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he continues to teach future physicians as a professor of pediatrics.

He received his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971 and completed his pediatric training at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. Following two years of military service, he returned to Johns Hopkins as chief resident in pediatrics from 1976-1978.

His clinical and research interests include issues related to pediatric liver transplantation, particularly the long-term follow up of transplant patients. His work in pediatric medicine also extends to other countries, including efforts to develop partnerships with children's hospitals in Poland and in Minsk, Belarus.