Cardiology Fellow and Chestnut Hill Alumna to Speak at Honors Convocation  

Anna Bortnick, M.D., Ph.D. to Deliver Keynote Address

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Anna Bortnick, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiology fellow at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and alumna of Chestnut Hill College, will present the keynote address at Honors Convocation on Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 1 p.m. in Sorgenti Arena.  

Dr. Bortnick graduated from Chestnut Hill College in 1997 summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. While at Chestnut Hill, she was a presidential scholar in the Interdisciplinary Scholars Program, served in student government as the vice president for academic affairs, and was awarded the St. Catherine Medal, the College’s highest honor for students.

After graduation from Chestnut Hill College, Dr. Bortnick entered the combined M.D. and Ph.D. program at the College of Medicine at Drexel University with a full academic scholarship. As a graduate student in cardiovascular biology, she studied the formation of high-density lipoproteins, also known as the “good cholesterol.” She published a number of papers in the field, presented her work at national and international meetings, and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Heart Association. In 2003, Anna was invited to spend six months as a postdoctoral fellow at the Universita della Studie di Parma, in Parma, Italy, where she continued her work on lipoproteins while also learning to speak Italian. In 2005, Anna graduated Alpha Omega Alpha from Drexel University with an award for excellence in clinical and academic medicine. She completed her internship and residency at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and later went on to serve as chief resident at the West Roxbury Veteran Administration Hospital. Dr. Bortnick returned to Philadelphia in July 2008 to pursue a cardiology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She is board certified in Internal Medicine.

Outside of academic life, Dr. Bortnick is a world traveler, fluent in both French and Italian. Her recent travels have taken her to Chile, New Zealand, and Borneo.