Dr. Ortiz received his MS and BS in 1996 from Yale University in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. He received his MD, PhD in 2004 from the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program where he studied human cellular immune responses to HIV.

Dr. Ortiz is well-known to most of us at ZSFG, having served since last year as the elected Chief of Staff and since 2018 as the Medical Director for Medical/Surgical Care.

Dr. Ortiz’s commitment to ZSFG started in 2004 when he joined as an intern in the Internal Medicine residency program. He shared with the interview panel that the mission of ZSFG is what drew his attention to train at UCSF, being a first-generation Latino who was driven to give back to underserved communities. Subsequently, he went on to do a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases and served as a ZSFG Chief Resident in Internal Medicine. He joined the faculty as a Clinical Instructor of Infectious Diseases in 2008 and then as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine in 2012 with the goal of applying his skills towards improving care and care delivery. Throughout his career, Dr. Ortiz has distinguished himself as a multifaceted leader, holding important roles within UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. As one example, he has served as the Epic Inpatient Domain Co-Leader since 2019 when we went live on Epic, navigating the electronic health record through stabilization and optimization phases. Highlighting his commitment to our key values, he has served as a Medical School Bridges coach, has been recognized with the Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award in 2019 by the UCSF graduating medical school class, and has twice been awarded the Values in Action Award by the Medical Executive Committee. He is an enthusiastic Lean leader, having completed Lean Certification in April 2014 and continuing to apply the principles of respect for people and enhancing value to his work across the Department of Medical/Surgical care and in his Chief of Staff role.

Dr. Ortiz epitomizes our ZSFG values of Joy in Work, Compassionate Care and Thirst in Learning.