Deborah Parker is Professor of Italian at the University of Virginia. Her field of expertise is Italian and Mediterranean visual and print cultures in the medieval and early modern eras. She is the author of numerous monographs, articles, and collaborative projects in print and digital platforms. She is known for her exploration of interrelations between art and literature, writings on race, higher education and sycophancy. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Villa I Tatti: the Harvard Center for Italian Studies, and the Folger Shakespeare Library and John F. Kennedy Library.

She is former Chair of the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese (2010-12), former Vice President of the Dante Society of America, and former Associate Editor and Membership Chair of the Renaissance Society of America.