Catherine Otto

Catherine Otto

Prof. Catherine M. Otto is an internationally recognized echocardiography specialist, Director of Training Programs in Cardiovascular Disease at Cardiology Division, University of Washington Medical Center, and has authored famous echocardiography textbooks. The major fields she works in are valvular heart disease, adult congenital heart disease and echocardiography.

She took her education at Reed College, Portland, Oregon, 1975 (B.A.), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1979 (M.D.), The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, 1979–1982 (residency in internal medicine), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1982–1985 (fellowship in cardiology).

Dr. Otto is recognized as an expert on calcific (aortic stenosis). Dr. Otto’s research has transformed our understanding of this disease process, showing that it is an active disease process that may be amenable to medical therapy, rather than being an inevitable consequence of aging. Her research on the aortic valve includes validation of noninvasive measures of disease severity, the first prospective study of disease progression, immunohistologic studies establishing the cellular and molecular mechanisms of valve disease, epidemiologic studies defining the clinical risk factors associated with calcific valve disease and a landmark study demonstrating that even mild valve thickening, called aortic sclerosis, is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. She received the 2011 American College of Cardiology Distinguished Scientist Award (Clinical Domain) for this research.

In addition, Dr. Otto is the author of several cardiology books: The Textbook of Clinical Echocardiography (4th Edition), The Practice of Clinical Echocardiography (3rd Edition), Valvular Heart Disease (3rd Edition, co-edited by Robert O. Bonow, MD), Atlas of Intraoperative Echocardiography (with Don Oxorn) and the Echocardiography Review Guide ( 2nd Edition with Rosario Freeman and Becky Schwaegler). She also is a Cardiology Editor-in-Chief for the online medical textbook Up-to-Date. The most recent addition to her collection of echocardiography books is the Otto Companion Series which includes books on Intraoperative Echocardiography, Congenital Heart Disease, Heart Failure, and Advanced Approaches in Echocardiography.