Dr. Vitali obtained her MD degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas and completed pediatric internship and residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center. She then completed a fellowship in pediatric critical care medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. During fellowship she trained in the pulmonary and vascular biology laboratory of Dr. Stella Kourembanas, studying the effect of hypoxia on cellular and small animal models of pulmonary hypertension. Throughout fellowship and as a junior faculty member she investigated the role of the inducible antioxidant and anti-inflammatory enzyme heme oxygenase-1 in the protection from hypoxia-induced pulmonary inflammation and pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Vitali became the Associate Medical Director for Respiratory Therapy and ECMO in 2017. Since that time her research has focused on short- and long-term outcomes after ECMO in pediatrics. She also investigates the management of anticoagulation and mechanical ventilation during pediatric ECMO for respiratory failure.