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Delma Nieves

Delma Nieves

•HS Associate Clinical Professor, Pediatrics, UC Irvine School of Medicine
•Medical Director of Infectious Diseases, CHOC Children's Hospital

Biography

Delma Nieves, M.D., is Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at CHOC Children's Hospital, Division Chief of Infectious Diseases for PSF/UCI, and HS Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UC Irvine School of Medicine. She has directed the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at CHOC since 2017. Nieves received her M.D. from the University of Washington and completed her pediatric infectious diseases fellowship at UCLA School of Medicine, where she conducted basic science research on the pathogenic mechanisms of Leptospira from 2005 to 2010, supported by an NIH/NIAID Minority Supplement Career Development Grant.

Nieves has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous clinical trials evaluating antimicrobial agents and antiviral therapies in pediatric populations, including studies of novel antibiotics, antifungal agents, and treatments for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Her research has focused on invasive bacterial and fungal infections in children, with particular attention to severe pertussis in infants, invasive pneumococcal disease, and infections in immunocompromised patients. She has contributed to surveillance studies tracking the impact of pneumococcal vaccines on invasive disease in Orange County, California, and has investigated the use of exchange blood transfusion in managing severe pertussis.

Nieves has authored peer-reviewed publications in journals including Diabetes, The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, and the Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, and has contributed chapters to multiple editions of Feigin and Cherry's Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Remington and Klein's Infectious Diseases of the Fetus and Newborn Infant. She serves on multiple hospital committees, including as Chair of the Medication/Nutrition Committee and Chair of the PSF Recruitment and Benefits Committee, and is a member of the PIDS Training Programs Subcommittee. Nieves has received the OCMA Physician of Excellence Award annually from 2014 to 2025.

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Education

  • M.D., University of Washington, 2002
  • B.A., Whittier College, 1998
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Distinctions

  • Robert C. Byrd Scholar Academic Scholarship, 1994-1998
  • OCMA Physician of Excellence Award, 2014-2025
  • Erna M. Jorgensen Endowed Fund Scholarship, University of Washington School of Medicine, 2000-2002
  • John Greenleaf Whittier Scholar Academic Scholarship, 1994-1998
  • Valedictorian, Saint Joseph High School, 1994
  • Recognition for Outstanding Academic Achievement, Alianza de los Amigos, Hispanic Alumni Association of Whittier College, 1998
  • Dean's List, Whittier College, 1998
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Areas of Expertise

  • Pediatric Infectious Diseases
  • Invasive Pneumococcal Surveillance
  • Neonatal Sepsis Management
  • Pertussis Clinical Outcomes
  • Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs
  • COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Therapy
  • Mycobacterial Infection Treatment

Recent Publications

  • Nieves, Delma J., M. Tuan Tran, Jasjit Singh, Negar Ashouri, Tricia Morphew, Jennifer G. Lusk, Felice C. Adler-Shohet, Rachel Marano, Stephanie Osborne, Jennifer Strickland, Antonio C. Arrieta, “Remdesivir Use in Pediatric Patients with Acute SARS-CoV-2 Infection Is Safe and Well Tolerated”, Children, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 331, 2025.
  • John R, Galvis A, Bucayu R, Schomberg J, Guner Y, Arrieta AC, Nieves DJ, “Exploring oral antibiotics stewardship in nonoperative management of complicated appendicitis in pediatric patients” (opens in new tab), Antimicrobial Stewardship and Healthcare Epidemiology, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 3101, 2025.
  • Nieves DJ, Tran T, Lusk J, Singh J, Ashouri N, Adler-Shohet F, Marano R, Osborne S, Strickland J, Arrieta A, “Safety and tolerability of Remdesivir for severe infection and prevention of progression of disease in pediatric patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection”, 2024. Presented at 2024 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) meeting, Toronto, Canada, May 2-6, 2024.
  • Ashouri N, Singh J, Nieves D, Gornick W, Arrieta A, “Kawasaki Disease versus respiratory viral activity during the COVID-19 pandemic”, 2024. Presented at 14th International Kawasaki Disease Symposium (IKDS), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 26-29, 2024.
  • Nieves D, Osborne S, Cheung M, Zahn M, Arrieta A, “Immunization Impact on Serotype Distribution of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease- Playing the Serotype Whack-A-Mole!”, 2024. Presented at ID Week, Los Angeles, CA, October 18, 2024.
  • Arrieta AC, Osborne S, Nieves DJ, Zahn M, Lee A, “Community Acquired Serious Bacterial Infections in Pediatric Patients Before and After COVID: Could masks saves lives?”, 2023. Presented at ID Week, Boston, MA, October 13, 2023.
  • Arrieta A, Singh J, Ashouri N, Nieves D, “Serial Microbial Cell-Free DNA Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) As A Means of Diagnosis and Monitoring of Clinical Response To Treatment Of Invasive Fungal Infections (IFI) In Immunocompromised Pediatric Patients”, 2022. Presented at ID Week 2022, Washington DC, October 19-23, 2022.
  • Quynh Pham, Alexandra Mihalek, Delma Nieves, Negar Ashouri, “Rat Bite Fever and Bilateral Sacroiliitis in an 11-year-old”, 2022. Presented at 38th Annual AAP OC Current Advances in Pediatrics, September 23-25, 2022.
  • Michael Andrew Crawford, Alexandra J. Mihalek, Delma J. Nieves, “An Unusual Side Effect of Acne Treatment: Minocycline Induced D.R.E.S.S.”, 2022. Presented at 38th Annual AAP OC Current Advances in Pediatrics, September 23-25, 2022.
  • Nieves D, Osborne S, Ashouri N, Singh J, Arrieta A, “10-Year Evaluation of Pediatric Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Confirms the Need for Continued Vaccine Optimization”, 2021. Presented at 31st European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), Vienna, Austria, July 9-12, 2021.
  • Arrieta A, Nieves D, Osborne S, Galvis A, Morphew T, Ehwerhemuepha L, Enriquez C, Imfeld K, Hoang J, Ashouri N, Singh J, Nugent D, “Use of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma for the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Cases of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Does Not Inhibit Natural Production of Specific Antibody- a Children's Hospital Experience”, 2021. Presented at 31st European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), Vienna, Austria, July 9-12, 2021.
  • Robert Bucayu, Alvaro Galvis, Rebecca John, Delma Nieves, “Antibiotic Stewardship in Nonoperative Management of Perforated Appendicitis: Oral Antibiotics Are an Alternative”, 2021. Presented at ID Week, September 29-October 3, 2021.
  • Singh J, Huff B, Nieves D, Gornick W, “Gone Are the Other Respiratory Viruses During COVID…but the Rhinovirus/Enterovirus "Cockroach" Persists!”, 2021. Presented at ID Week, September 29-October 3, 2021.
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Most Cited Publications

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Contact Information

Email: nievesd@uci.edu

Phone: (714) 509-8403

Address: 1201 W. LaVeta Ave., Orange, CA 92868

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This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 3/31/2026.