About Dr. Anahi M. Ortiz

Dr. Anahi Ortiz was born in New York, New York. She graduated from the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, a six-year BS/MD program, at City College of New York. She then received her medical degree from Downstate Medical College in Brooklyn. Dr. Ortiz decided on pediatrics as her focus and did her residency at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan.

After residency, her career has focused on providing care to the underserved communities of New York City and eventually those in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Ortiz moved to the central Ohio area in 1996 where she has worked as a pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Westside Community Health Center, and North Community
Counseling. She has always been a proponent of volunteering in the community. She currently volunteers for several non-profits,
including Timmy Global Health Care.

She was appointed to the Office of Franklin County Coroner in November of 2014. Since then she has worked towards streamlining
the process for more timely production of death certificates,
professionally interpreting several forms for families of decedents whose primary language is not English, and educating the medical community on completing death certificates. She has highlighted cultural sensitivity as a priority of the Coroner’s Office and brought in several educational sessions on cultural sensitivity for the staff. As of April of 2018, she hasadded a paid FMLA program for employees.

In March of 2015, Dr. Ortiz convened the Franklin County Drug Overdose Death Initiative (DODI). This group currently meets regularly to look at the rising rate of drug use and deaths in our
county and how we can intervene. Since then she has hosted the Franklin County Opiate Crisis Summit in March of 2016 and again in 2017. She has also worked on a Community Action Plan towards the opiate crisis and launched the Franklin County Opiate Crisis Task
Force in August of 2016.

Dr. Ortiz is on the Board of Netcare, Catholic Social Services and the Board of the National Violent Death Reporting System. She is a
member of the Franklin County Suicide Prevention Coalition and
the Medical Advisory Board of YMCA Head Start. She has also spoken
to numerous community groups, as well as professional organizations on suicide, infant mortality, and addiction/opiate crisis.

Dr. Anahi Ortiz has almost 30 years of experience in working with high risk communities in the medical field. She has brought this
experience and knowledge to the Office of Coroner where she has been a voice for those who die of violent means and has helped to
improve the lives of our community.
 

Dr. Ortiz Received the 2019 Women of Achievement Award from the YWCA.