Ralph John DeBerardinis, MD Division Director at Children's Health Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center
UTSW Physician Practicing at Children's Health
Locations
Biography
Ralph DeBerardinis, M.D., Ph.D., is a Medical Geneticist at Children’s Health℠ and faculty member at UT Southwestern Medical Center. His clinical care focuses on pediatric genetics and newborn screening for metabolic disorders, and his research focuses on the role of altered metabolism in cancer and childhood genetic diseases. He is considered an international leader in research on cancer metabolism.
Dr. DeBerardinis earned his M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed residencies in pediatrics and medical genetics and a fellowship in clinical biochemical genetics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Dr. DeBerardinis is currently a Professor in the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute (CRI) and Department of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern. He is the Robert L. Moody, Sr. Faculty Scholar, Sowell Family Scholar in Medical Research and the Joel B. Steinberg, M.D. Chair in Pediatrics at UT Southwestern. He serves as Chief of Pediatric Genetics and Metabolism at UT Southwestern and Director of the Genetic and Metabolic Disease Program in the CRI. In 2018 he was appointed as an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Dr. DeBerardinis has published more than 170 articles and chapters on the role of perturbed metabolic states in human health and disease. He serves on editorial boards of several major biomedical journals, including eLife and Cancer Discovery. He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, Society for Pediatric Research, American Society of Human Genetics and Society for Inherited Metabolic Disorders. He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and named to D Magazine’s list of Best Pediatric Subspecialists. Dr. DeBerardinis has trained and advised dozens of medical students, residents, postdoctoral trainees and visiting scientists.
Education and Training
Medical School
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2000)Residency
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2005), Medical GeneticsDepartments & Programs
Research & Publications
Research Interests
- Cancer
- Genetic disorders in children
- Inborn errors of metabolism
- Metabolism
To learn more about Dr. Deberardinis's research, visit the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern.
Selected Publications
- Reductive carboxylation supports growth in tumour cells with defective mitochondria., Mullen AR, Wheaton WW, Jin ES, Chen PH, Sullivan LB, Cheng T, Yang Y, Linehan WM, Chandel NS, Deberardinis RJ Nature 2011 Nov
- Pyruvate carboxylase is required for glutamine-independent growth of tumor cells., Cheng T, Sudderth J, Yang C, Mullen AR, Jin ES, Matés JM, DeBerardinis RJ Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2011 May 108 21 8674-9
- Glioblastoma cells require glutamate dehydrogenase to survive impairments of glucose metabolism or Akt signaling., Yang C, Sudderth J, Dang T, Bachoo RM, Bachoo RG, McDonald JG, DeBerardinis RJ Cancer Res. 2009 Oct 69 20 7986-93
- The biology of cancer: metabolic reprogramming fuels cell growth and proliferation., DeBerardinis RJ, Lum JJ, Hatzivassiliou G, Thompson CB Cell Metab. 2008 Jan 7 1 11-20
- Beyond aerobic glycolysis: transformed cells can engage in glutamine metabolism that exceeds the requirement for protein and nucleotide synthesis., DeBerardinis RJ, Mancuso A, Daikhin E, Nissim I, Yudkoff M, Wehrli S, Thompson CB Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2007 Dec 104 49 19345-50
Professional Activities
Professional Associations and Affiliations
- American Society for Clinical Investigation (2013)
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Society of Human Genetics
- Society for Inherited Metabolic Disorders
- Society for Pediatrics Research
Awards & Honors
- Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Clinical Investigator Award (2011)
- President’s Research Council Distinguished Young Researcher Award (2008)
- Soc. for Inherited Metabolic Disorders Neil Buist Award (2008)
- Sowell Family Scholar in Medical Research (2008)
- William K. Bowes, Jr. Award in Medical Genetics (2008)
- CHOP Pediatric Scholars Program & Faculty Honor Roll (2007)