Dr. Ortinau is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Newborn Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She received her medical degree from the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine and completed her Pediatric Residency and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship at Washington University.

Dr. Ortinau’s research program is dedicated to understanding the nature, timing, and mechanisms of brain injury and altered brain development in congenital heart disease. Her early work focused specifically on infant brain development in this population. These studies revealed a quantitative reduction in brain size, changes in white matter microstructure, and regional alterations in gyral and sulcal development, all of which were present prior to cardiac surgery. These findings led her to focus on fetal brain development in congenital heart disease. She became a co-investigator with Drs. Rollins and Gholipour on a fetal MRI study that investigates fetal brain measurements in congenital heart disease to determine whether in utero markers of abnormal brain development can be identified. She is also the Principal Investigator of a fetal MRI study at Washington University evaluating potential physiologic and genetic pathways of disruption of fetal brain development in the congenital heart disease population.