Anahi Ortiz, MD A Champion for Prevention BY GERRI R. COLLIER Anahi Ortiz, MD retired from the Franklin County Coroner’s Office in November 2022. Since then, she has taken the opportunity to vacation, hike, see the mountains, study astronomy, practice yoga, enjoy the weather, and enjoy southern cooking, along with Indian, Chinese, French and Italian meals. She has time to relax in Arizona’s Mission Garden, historical living gardens that include Mexican, Spanish, and Native Tribe plants. Dr. Ortiz started her career as a pediatrician in New York. She had originally planned to pursue psychiatry but, during the course of her studies, she had a change of heart, deciding she could make more of a difference in helping children grow. After 10 years in New York, she worked for another five in community neighborhoods. She moved to Ohio for a career change that lasted 25 years. Even today, many of the protocols she implemented to protect her pediatric patients are still in practice. Over time, she became disappointed with the treatment of patients, evolving from patients to clients. She was offered the opportunity to be a consultant for Social Security Administration (SSA)while volunteering at free clinics. While consulting for the Social Security Administration, she met the Franklin County Coroner, who was also consulting for the SSA. When the coroner announced plans to retire, she asked Dr. Ortiz to apply for the position, feeling that Franklin County needed a community-minded physician in charge. 34 | ENVISION PROVEN SUCCESS MAGAZINE “ Dr. Ortiz applied for the position and was appointed. When her term ended two years later, she successfully ran for a full term. EPS: What is your greatest strength? Dr. Anahi Ortiz: Being resilient. Being able to forge through and do the work I have done in the past using creativity that is needed for leadership. Being able to think outside of the box. Being able to forge through and do the work I have done in the past using creativity that is needed for leadership. ” Gerri: Tell me about being a pediatrician in Columbus. Dr. Ortiz: You try out every area and choose where you want to go at the end of four years. Pediatrics was my last rotation. I wanted to be where I could make a difference. I practiced a lot of prevention to help children to grow up into healthy adults. Gerri: How did you transition from pediatrics to other areas of expertise? Dr. Ortiz: The environment changed. Primary centers close to home opened, and the patients were no longer called patients. The new term was “clients.” After working 25 years as a pediatrician, it was time to make a change. Gerri: What were some of the challenges that you faced? Dr. Ortiz: Before taking the coroner’s position, I was focused on improving and preventing disease with my patients. My patient’s entire life was ahead of them. The big hurdle of the coroner was that I was working with death daily.
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