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Staff Clinician: Deena Zeltser, M.D.

DIR Staff Clinician/Assistant Research Physician, Office of the Clinical Director

Scientific Focus

Sarah Sheppard Lab: Unit on Vascular Malformations 
Dr. Zeltser helps develop more effective therapies for patients with complex lymphatic malformations, particularly those with Central Conducting Lymphatic Anomalies.

Biosketch

Dr. Zeltser received a B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000, with a major in the history and sociology of science and a minor in religious studies. She received an M.D. from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, in 2005.

After completing her residency in pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Children’s Memorial Hospital (currently known as Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago), Dr. Zeltser worked as a pediatric hospitalist at community hospitals in Chicago and its nearby suburbs. In 2010, she returned to Washington, DC, where she worked as a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s National Medical Center and at Holy Cross Hospital.

Dr. Zeltser joined NICHD in January 2017 as a pediatric staff clinician in the Office of the Clinical Director. She provides clinical support to NICHD research teams. She began working with Dr. Sheppard in 2022.

Dr. Zeltser was born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. She now lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband and two children.