Her Story
About Elizabeth
Elizabeth Otovic is a traveling sonographer specializing in perinatal sonography and fetal echocardiography, with 35 years of experience at Stanford Lucille Packard Children's Hospital through Medical Solutions. She began her career as a medical assistant in cardiology, where she performed EKGs, before pursuing ultrasound training. Otovic earned her ultrasound degree from Northeastern University College of Professional Studies in the 1991-1992 timeframe, followed by a baccalaureate in science from Leslie University, and is currently pursuing a master's degree in healthcare administration at Southern New Hampshire University. She is certified by the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers, where she volunteers, and maintains affiliations with the Fetal Medicine Foundation and the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers. Among her notable achievements, Otovic served as keynote speaker and chair at a conference in Kyoto, Japan, and had an abstract published on her research using music to stimulate fetal activity. She attributes her success to her upbringing emphasizing hard work, honesty, integrity, accuracy, consistency, and a solution-focused attitude, and she is passionate about healthcare equity and inspiring others, including women with disabilities.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elizabeth
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would have to give kudos to my parents that are no longer with us, but the combination of that small town that I grew up in mentality of work hard, achieve, apply yourself. Be an honest individual. Listen, focus, respond, try to stay calm, don't overreact. That consistent mantra created a fiber in my being that I needed to continue to learn and to grow and to share knowledge with those around me. My parents were religious people too, so that is a very solid moral compass that always guides you.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It helps to know what your strengths are and knowing one's weaknesses. Then you can sort from there what are your interests, what are your hobbies. Always shoot for more, strive for more. If you're interested in science, don't let anyone dissuade you from that. Whatever your interests are, if you have a goal and you want to achieve that goal, then you find individuals that may be in that field and see if you can talk with them or even spend a day with them. Just never give up if it's a passion, if it's a goal, if it's a dream. Never let anyone get in your way and just do the best that you can to find the road to get you there.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
AI is definitely trying to impact the way that we do our work, and I think one of the things that AI is trying to do is to make our jobs easier and more efficient. 3D, 4D rendering in some situations can be quite helpful. But being the individual that's been in my field for so long, I'd like to see these more streamlined and work in a positive way. Ultrasound is the most operator-dependent imaging modality that exists, and I wouldn't want to see AI take that over, but if it can assist at all and perhaps taking data and formulating that into a report so that the physician would have that information, that would be very helpful.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty and integrity, without honesty and integrity I don't think people achieve much honestly. Accuracy, consistency, maintaining a solution-focused attitude. Sometimes you know if we can learn from our mistakes because I feel like we're constantly learning and growing.
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