Dr. Ortega is vice president, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, supporting efforts to improve retention and well-being for diverse resident and fellow physicians; address harassment, discrimination, and other forms of mistreatment in the graduate medical education (GME) learning environment; and disseminate information on diversity, equity, and inclusion activities to the GME community. Dr. Ortega is an internationally recognized expert in linguistically and culturally appropriate health care. 

Dr. Ortega also holds an appointment as clinical associate professor at the University of Illinois Chicago Departments of Emergency Medicine and Medical Education. 

Dr. Ortega has more than 15 years' experience creating and evaluating innovative programs throughout the medical education continuum. Her groundbreaking work in medical Spanish education and assessment has contributed to the recognition of language equity as an area of scholarly inquiry in medicine. She co-founded two non-profit organizations that foster interprofessional collaborative scholarship focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging: the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement and the National Association of Medical Spanish. She has published four books and more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has delivered more than 100 national and international presentations. 

Dr. Ortega has mentored numerous underrepresented in medicine learners and junior faculty members in advancing their academic scholarship through her roles in the Latino Medical Student Association, the National Hispanic Medical Association, the MedEdPORTAL journal, and the Association of American Medical Colleges Research in Medical Education Committee. 

Dr. Ortega earned her undergraduate degree in philosophy at the Johns Hopkins University, her Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and a master’s degree in graphic medicine from the Universidad Internacional de Andalucía. She completed her residency in emergency medicine at the University of Chicago.