Dr. Carla Ortique, an OB/GYN with Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, was recently named physician of the year by the Houston Medical Forum, a component society of the National Medical Association.
The forum was established in 1926 to address the needs of physicians of African descent and their patients. Today, the Houston Medical Forum is the National Medical Association’s largest local affiliate. Its members represent a myriad of specialties and engage in a variety of activities that advance the art and practice of medicine as well as promote education and wellness in the community, eliminate health disparities and sustain physician viability.
“I feel incredibly blessed and honored to be recognized by this organization,” Ortique said.
Ortique earned a B.S. in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982 and her medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1986. Ortique completed an internship and residency in family medicine at the University of Illinois.
A strong interest in providing comprehensive care for women, coupled with the personal experience of having a sister diagnosed with breast cancer, resulted in Ortique undertaking a second residency program. She completed her training in obstetrics and gynecology at St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center in St. Paul, Minn., in 1995.
Ortique has been in the active practice of obstetrics and gynecology in Texas since August 1995. Board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology since 1997, she incorporates her family medicine training as well as training in complementary and alternative therapies to provide comprehensive care to female patients. Her areas of special interest include spirituality and medicine, general obstetrics, minimally invasive surgical procedures including hysteroscopy and laparoscopy, preventative health care and patient safety, guidance for perimenopausal and menopausal patients. Ortique also is interested in health equity and elimination of racial and ethnic health care disparities and elimination of preventable maternal deaths.