Jodie Votava-Smith, MD

Director, Fetal Cardiology Program
Attending Physician
Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of USC

Jodie K. Votava-Smith is Director of the Fetal Cardiology Program in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California (USC). She graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry in 2000, and then attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons where she received her Doctor of Medicine in 2004. She completed her internship and residency in pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2007, and a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center in 2011. She then completed an additional year of training in fetal cardiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in 2012.  Dr. Votava-Smith is a board certified pediatrician since 2007 with subspecialty board certification in pediatric cardiology since 2012.

Dr. Votava-Smith is actively involved in the detection and pre-term management of fetuses with congenital heart disease, and she continues to care for these infants after they are born both during their hospital stay, and after they are discharged home. She is a representative of the Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles working closely with the Institute for Maternal Fetal Health (IMFH) at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) to care for fetuses diagnosed with major congenital malformations. This collaboration has provided her the unique opportunity to study the outcomes of fetuses with critical heart lesions, and develop new strategies to improve both prenatal and postnatal management.

Dr. Votava-Smith’s current research is focused on the evaluation of cerebral blood flow patterns, brain imaging, and neurodevelopment of fetuses, infants, and children with congenital heart disease. She is also interested in the assessment of fetal cardiac function in fetuses with twin-twin transfusion and a variety of fetal conditions.

Clinical Interests

Pediatric cardiology, fetal cardiology, congenital heart disease, prenatal diagnosis, prenatal intervention, noninvasive imaging including transthoracic, transesophagea, and fetal echocardiograms

Education

Medical School

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Internship

University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, Pediatrics

Residency

University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, Pediatrics

Fellowship

Pediatric Cardiology: Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY and Fetal Cardiology: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH

Accomplishments

Certification

Board certified in Pediatrics, American Board of Pediatrics; Board certified in Pediatric Cardiology, American Board of Pediatrics

Memberships

American Heart Association, American Society of Echocardiography, American College of Cardiology, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Medical Women’s Association

Medical Awards

Gerber Foundation Novice Researcher Grant (2012), Berrie Fellowship for diabetes research (2001)

Publications

Rajagopalan V, Votava-Smith JK, Zhuang X, Brian J, Marshall L, Panigrahy A,  Paquette L.  Fetuses with single ventricle congenital heart disease manifest impairment of regional brain growth.  Prenat Diagn. 2018 Dec;38(13):1042-1048.

Gerstvolf N*, Votava-Smith JK*, Ceschin R, Del Castillo S, Lee V, Lai HA, Bluml S, Paquette L, Panigrahy A.  Association between Subcortical Morphology and Cerebral White Matter Energy Metabolism in Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease.  Scientific Reports. 2018 Sept 19;8(1): 14057.

Schmithorst VJ, Votava-Smith JK, Tran, N, Kim R, Lee V, Ceschin R, Sulaiman S, Lai HA, Johnson JA, Sanchez De Toledo J, Bluml S, Paquette L, Panigrahy A.  Structural Network Topology Correlates of Microstructural Brain Dysmaturation in Term Infants with Congenital Heart Disease. Hum Brain Mapp. 2018 Nov;39 (11):4593-4610.

Domadia S, Kumar SR, Votava-Smith JK, Pruetz JD.  Neonatal outcomes in total anomalous pulmonary venous return: the role of prenatal diagnosis and pulmonary venous obstruction. Pediatric Cardiology 2018 Oct;39(7): 1346-1354.

Pruetz JD, Votava-Smith JK, Tesoriero L.  Neonates with Critical Congenital Heart Disease: Delivery Room Management and Stabilization Before Transfer to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit  In: Seri I, Klukow M (Eds).  Hemodynamics and Cardiology:  Neonatology Questions and Controversies, 3rd Ed.  Philadelphia:  Elsevier, 2018.

Votava-Smith JK, Statile CS, Taylor MD, King EC, Pratt JM, Nelson DP, Michelfelder EC.  Impaired Cerebral Autoregulation in Preoperative Newborn Infants with Congenital Heart Disease.  J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2017 Sep;154(3): 1038-1044. 

Pruetz, JD, Votava-Smith JK, Korst LM, Llanes A, Chmait HR, Chmait RH.  Recipient twin circular shunt physiology prior to fetal laser surgery and risk for postnatal right ventricular outflow tract obstruction.  J  Ultrasound Med 2017 Aug;36(8):1595-1605.

Wong A, Chavez T, O’Neil S, Votava-Smith J, Miller D, delCastillo S, Panigrahy A, Paquette L.  Synchronous Aberrant Cerebellar and Opercular Development in Fetuses and Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease: Correlation with Early Communicative Neurodevelomental Outcomes, Initial Experience.  AJP Rep2017;7(1):e17-e27.

Harbison AL, Votava-Smith JK, del Castillo S, Kumar SR, Lee V, Schmithorst V, Lai H, O’Neil S, Bluml S, Paquette L, Panigrahy A.  Cerebral Metabolism in Term Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease:  Association with Patient and Clinical Factors. Journal Pediatr. 2017 Apr;183:67-73.e1.

Panigrahy A, Lee V, Ceshin R, Zuccoli G, Beluk N, Khalifa O, Votava-Smith J, DeBrunner M, Munoz R, Dominina Y, Morell V, Wearden P, Sanchez De Toledo J, Devine W, Zahid M, Lo CW.  Brain Dysplasia Associated with Ciliary Dysfunction  In Congenital Heart Disease Infants.  J Pediatr. 2016 Nov;178:141-148.e1.

Barber BA, Williams ME, Zamora I, Randolph LM, Votava-Smith JK, Marcy S.  Phenotype of 7q11.23 Duplication:  A Family Case Series  Am J Med Genet A.2017 Jan;173(1):114-119

Votava-Smith JK, Pitukcheewanont P, Randolph LM, Chmait RH. Generalized Arterial Calcification in a Recipient Twin: Discordant Fetal Hemodynamics Result in Differing Phenotypes in Monozygotic Twins with an ABCC6 Mutation. Fetal Diagn Ther. 2016 Mar 17. [Epub ahead of print]

Castellanos D, Travelli FC, Reyhan I, Votava-Smith JK, Ramanathan A, Bar-Cohen Y. Acute Aortic and Mitral Valve Perforations due to Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis Circulation. 2015 Jun 16;131(24):e527-9

Paquette LD, Votava-Smith JK, Ceschin R, Nagasunder AC, Jackson HA, Blum S, Wisnowski JL, Panigrahy A. Abnormal Development of Thalamic Microstructure in Premature Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease. Pediatr Cardiol. 2015 Jun;36(5):960-9

Pruetz JD, Votava-Smith JK, Miller DA. Clinical Relevance of Fetal Hemodynamic Monitoring: Perinatal Implications. Seminars in Fetal & Neonatal Medicine 2015 March 27

Agarwal A, Biglarian S, Lim-Stavros S, Votava-Smith JK, Ramanathan A. Pediatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus presenting with coronary arteritis: A case series and review of the literature. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2015 Mar 5. pii: S0049-0172(15)00048-7

Votava-Smith JK, Habli M, Cnota JF, Divanovic A, Polzin W, Lim, F,  Michelfelder EC. Diastolic dysfunction and cerebrovascular redistribution precede overt recipient twin cardiomyopathy in early stage twin-twin transfusion syndrome. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2015 May;28(5):533-40

Villa CR, Habli M, Votava-Smith JK, Cnota JF, Lim FY, Divanovic AA, Wang Y, Michelfelder EC. Assessment of fetal cardiomyopathy in early stage twin-twin transfusion syndrome: comparison between commonly reported cardiovascular assessment scores. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol.  2014 Jun;43(6):646-51

Votava-Smith JK, Glickstein JS, Simpson LL, Williams IA. Comparison of method of conception in fetuses undergoing echocardiography at a tertiary referral center. Prenat Diagn, 2014 May;34(5):445-9

Kleinman CS, Glickstein JS, Krishnamurthy G, Votava-Smith JK. Fetal Echocardiography and Fetal Cardiology. In: Allen HD, Driscoll J, Shaddy RE, Feltes TF (Eds.) Moss and Adams’ Heart Disease in Infants, Children, and Adolescents: Including the Fetus and Young Adult, 8th Ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Kleinman CS, Glickstein JS, Krishnamurthy G, Votava-Smith JK. The Current Role of Fetal Echocardiography. In: Kleinman CS, Seri I, Polin RA (Eds). Hemodynamics and Cardiology: Neonatology Questions and Controversies, 2nd Ed. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier

Votava-Smith, JK, Perens GS, Alejos JC. Bosentan for increased pulmonary vascular resistance in a patient with single ventricle physiology and a bidirectional Glenn shunt. Pediatr Cardiol. 2007 Aug 28(4): 314-316. Epub 2007 Jun 11

Research

Cerebral autoregulation in infants with congenital heart disease; cerebral blood flow patterns, mode of delivery, brain imaging, and neurodevelopment in fetuses, infants and children with congenital heart disease; prenatal diagnosis and postnatal management of complex congenital heart disease; assessment of fetal cardiac function; cardiac findings in twin-twin transfusion and noncardiac fetal anomalies; prenatal intervention

Research Studies

Develop better ways of screening and diagnosing certain types of brain injuries in infants and children who are born with and without congenital heart disease.