Mary Ottolini, MD, MPH, MEd is the George W. Hallett MD Chair of Pediatrics at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center, a Tufts University Professor of Pediatrics, and the founder and advisor of the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital Scholarship Academy. In her role as the Chair of Pediatrics she oversees the academic and clinical work of pediatric faculty at the BBCH and the MaineHealth Children’s Health Service Line.
Prior to joining Maine Medical Center, Dr. Ottolini was most recently the Vice Chair of Education at Children’s National Hospital where she supervised over 1000 trainees annually in developing expertise in pediatrics across the spectrum of learners from medical students to sub-specialty fellows and faculty. While in the Washington DC area, she also led a practice-based research network comprised of primary care pediatricians in the area.
Through her scholarship, Dr. Ottolini is a nationally recognized expert in medical education with particular expertise in eLearning. During her 30 year career as a medical educator she has presented numerous workshops and original research in medical education at national meetings. She has published book chapters, review articles, and original educational research in peer-reviewed journals. She has served as the Education Chair for the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) and as the APA President. Dr. Ottolini was awarded the prestigious Pediatric Academic Society’s (PAS) Ray Helfer award three times for the most outstanding educational research study presented at the annual PAS meeting as well as the APA’s Teaching Program Award four times for educational programs she helped develop and implement. Dr. Ottolini was awarded the Parker Palmer Courage to Lead Award by the ACGME in 2016 for outstanding Graduate Medical Education leadership as the Designated Institutional Official at Children’s National Hospital and Lifetime Achievement Award for Medical Student Education Leadership from the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics in 2017. In 2019 she was awarded the Pediatric Hospital Medicine LifeTime Achievement Award. In 2020 she was named an inaugural member of the National Academy of Distinguished Educators in Pediatrics and a MITE Academy Master Educator.
In addition to earning a Medical Degree and Master’s Degree in Public Health, she completed a Master’s Degree in Medical Education from the George Washington University Graduate School of Education.
Scholarship areas of interest: the use of technology to innovate the learning process – including eLearning and simulation with augmented reality