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.