Rafael Ortega to become BUSM Associate Dean for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs

Rafael Ortega, MD, Professor of Anesthesiology, will serve as Associate Dean for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs as of February 1, 2011. Dr. Ortega has been an active member of the BUMC community for 25 years. He joined BUSM as Anesthesiology Medical Student Coordinator in 1986 and in 2007 was named Professor of Anesthesiology. He has been Vice Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology since 1998.

He received his premedical education and was awarded his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Dr. Ortega completed an internship in surgery at San Isidro Air Force Hospital, Dominican Republic, and an internship in internal medicine at St. Francis Medical Center, Trenton, NJ. He served as Chief Resident in Anesthesiology and as a Fellow in Cardiac Anesthesia at BMC.

Dr. Ortega has served on a variety of BUSM committees including admissions, curriculum, faculty affairs, and on the advisory committee for faculty development. Dr. Ortega has authored articles and book chapters in a variety of topics including operating room safety and the history of anesthesiology. He has recently developed a number of educational videos, some of which have been published by the New England Journal of Medicine and the World Health Organization. His work in computer-assisted instruction has earned him numerous awards including the Anesthesia Patient Safety Award First Prize for an educational exhibit at the 2010 ASA Annual Meeting.

In addition, Dr. Ortega is a passionate leader and member of the BUMC band playing guitar and harmonica. Not only was he instrumental in restoring the Ether Monument, a statue and fountain near the northwest corner of Boston’s Public Garden which commemorates the first public demonstration of ether in anesthesia, but he also created a fund to support the monument’s upkeep. He is board certified in Anesthesiology and Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography.