Altovise is a first generation college grad who, in 2005, earned her B.A. in Biology from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. She then joined Teach for America and taught middle school science for two years. Following her passion, she pursued a path that combined health, genetics and society, and earned her Ph.D. in Genetics and Human Genetics with a specialization in Genetic Counseling, at Howard University in 2011. During her training, she spent time at the NIH with the Human Genome Research Institute and the National Cancer Institute. She also had the privilege of providing genetic counseling services to patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Altovise did a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins. Her scholarship focused on inclusion of diverse patient populations in cancer genetics research and development of ethically sound strategies to address health inequities. She has presented her research at national conferences and published in medical journals and popular magazines.