Chelsey Ortman, MD

Hometown: Bartlett, IL

College/Medical School: Rice University / Mercer University School of Medicine

Research Projects: 

• Utilization of the Pittsburgh Infant Brain Injury Score to decide which infants that present for evaluation of spells by Child Neurologists need urgent neuroimaging to rule out intracranial hemorrhage
• Utilization of quantitative EEG to identify subtle asymmetry in infants found to have intracranial hemorrhage and to guide decisions about urgent neuroimaging in infants

Career Goals: At the start of residency, I had only decided that I likely wanted to start my career post-residency in an academic institution. I had broad interests at the start of my adult neurology year, but I slowly started to realize throughout that year that I had the most intellectual curiosity about surgical epilepsy. Thanks to my mentors Dr. Robyn Filipink and Dr. Yoshimi Sogawa, I began to imagine my career specializing in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology with a focus on surgical epilepsy in an academic setting. I am happy to share that I am pursuing a fellowship position in my area of interest at Texas Children’s Hospital—Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX to start in 2021.

Chief Role: Recruitment and Community Outreach Chief

Hobbies/Interests: My hobbies include: reading, running with friends, watching TV, trying new restaurants and traveling abroad as often as I can. I also love spending time with my husband, Robert.

Travels/Languages: I have been to most of Eastern Europe, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nicaragua, Taiwan, and Japan./I speak Japanese, and some Russian and Mandarin Chinese. 

An Interesting Fact About Yourself: I was told by my mother that I was delivered by a medical student at Loyola University in Chicago.

More About Me: I had never come to Pittsburgh prior to my interview, but I was drawn to the city because of the very livable but also very urban environment, the great food, the central location, and of course all of the people I met at the amazing UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. My partner is an electrical and computer engineer, and it quickly became apparent that Pittsburgh has a multitude of technologically oriented companies, so that is fantastic for our family. 

Everyone has something different they are looking for in a training program—I think the most important things for me were whether I felt like I would be in an environment where I could maximize my learning, make lifelong connections with co-residents and faculty, and propel me to the best opportunities in the next stage of my career. Thankfully, UPMC Children's Hospital is a place where I feel like I have plenty of independence and I am learning at a break-neck pace. The clinical volume is fantastic here for self-learning, but I constantly benefit from frequent one-on-one teaching from faculty. I feel like the faculty in our division are all people who are approachable enough to have over for dinner, and that really makes the learning that much easier. I definitely made lifelong friends along the way throughout my pediatrics, adult neurology, and child neurology years. Most importantly, my training at UPMC Children's has helped me be completely ready to practice independently following fellowship. 

Why Did You Choose UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh: I immediately liked the program after meeting the residents, staff, and program leadership. I wanted to find a program that is academically well-rounded at an amazing children’s hospital, with friendly, curious, dedicated people working alongside me. I think I succeeded.