Bio


Dr. Christine Santiago is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Stanford Division of Hospital Medicine with a deep commitment to improving healthcare access and equity. Dr. Santiago earned her M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School graduating cum laude and completed an M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management at the University of California Berkeley.

Throughout her career, Dr. Santiago has actively engaged in various leadership roles and initiatives, such as co-founding the Stanford Health Equity, Advocacy and Research Program (Stanford HEARs), a resident-led program aimed at addressing healthcare disparities. She also had the privilege of serving as Chief Resident, where she supported educational activities and mentored fellow residents.

With a strong focus on diversity and inclusion, Dr. Santiago has been involved in multiple professional associations, including the American College of Physicians and the California Medical Association, to promote diversity within healthcare. Additionally, she has contributed to curriculum development, mentorship programs, and research activities, all in the pursuit of advancing healthcare, improving patient outcomes and creating a more equitable healthcare system for all patients.

Clinical Focus


  • Internal Medicine
  • Health Equity
  • Health Disparity, Minority and Vulnerable Populations
  • Quality Improvement
  • Quality Indicators, Health Care
  • Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care

Academic Appointments


  • Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine

Administrative Appointments


  • Divisional Director of Community Partnerships, Stanford Hospital Medicine (2024 - Present)
  • Course Director, Capstone course (2023 - Present)
  • Faculty Director, Stanford Health Equity Advocacy and Research (HEARs) program (2023 - Present)
  • Chief Resident, Stanford Internal Medicine Residency Program (2022 - 2023)

Honors & Awards


  • Inspiring Early Academic Career Award, Faculty Women’s Forum (2024)
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award, SHC Medical Staff Award (2024)
  • Johnson & Johnson Global Health Scholar Award, J&J, Stanford and Yale (2022)
  • Dr. Miquell Miller Award for Promoting Diversity & Inclusion, Stanford University (2021)
  • Presidential Scholars Public Service Initiative Award, Harvard University (2019)
  • APD Diversity Impact Award, McKinsey & Company (2018)
  • Northern California Medical Student Scholarship, Kaiser Permanente (2017)
  • Public Health Fellow Award, Kaiser Permanente (2017)
  • Neil Samuel Ghiso Fellowship Recipient, Harvard Medical School (2015)
  • Robinson Appel Humanitarian Award, Cornell University (2011)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Member, American College of Physicians (2019 - Present)
  • Council of Resident/Fellow Members, American College of Physicians (2021 - 2022)
  • Diversity and Inclusion Committee Member, California Medical Association (2018 - 2019)

Professional Education


  • Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine (2022)
  • Residency: Stanford University Internal Medicine Residency (2022) CA
  • Medical Education: Harvard Medical School (2019) MA
  • Masters of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Health Policy and Management (2018)
  • Bachelor of Science, Cornell University, Human Biology, Health and Society Minor: Inequality Studies (2013)

Research Interests


  • Curriculum and Instruction
  • Diversity and Identity
  • Equity in Education
  • Gender Issues
  • Race and Ethnicity

Clinical Trials


  • Food Insecurity Reduction & Strategy Team Not Recruiting

    This study seeks to address the multifaceted challenges posed by food disparities and their negative consequences on health outcomes, via a comprehensive community health intervention program. Study objectives include: 1. To describe the social-demographic and clinical factors associated with food insecurity in the hospitalized diabetic population. 2. To design, implement and evaluate a nutrition program targeting the hospitalized diabetic population. The investigators will prospectively randomize the target population into either a nutrition program (Intervention), or state-of-art standard of care (SOC) in a 4:1 ratio. Participants in the intervention group will be provided the following two resources in addition to SOC: 1) Enhanced access to nutritious food (twice daily meal delivery up to 90 days post-discharge) 2) Education at discharge and continuing outreach to enhance knowledge for better diet and food options. 3. To enhance community engagement and develop a systematic implementation plan for long-term roll-out of the nutrition program.

    Stanford is currently not accepting patients for this trial.

    View full details

All Publications


  • Measuring Equity in Readmission as an Assessment of Hospital Performance. JAMA Gallo, R. J., Santiago, C. 2024

    View details for DOI 10.1001/jama.2024.4351

    View details for PubMedID 38648050

  • Association Between Depressive Symptoms and Cardiac Structure and Function in a Peruvian Population GLOBAL HEART Santiago, C., Pena, M., Brown, T., Shakil, S., Januzzi, J., Velazquez, E., Miranda, J., Rivera, D., Checkley, W. 2022; 17 (1)

    View details for DOI 10.5334/gh.981

    View details for Web of Science ID 000878418100001

  • Opioids: Underprescription in a Time of Excess. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges Santiago, C. 2019; 94 (1): 10-9

    View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002485

    View details for PubMedID 30585810

  • The real-time fMRI neurofeedback based stratification of Default Network Regulation Neuroimaging data repository. NeuroImage McDonald, A. R., Muraskin, J., Dam, N. T., Froehlich, C., Puccio, B., Pellman, J., Bauer, C. C., Akeyson, A., Breland, M. M., Calhoun, V. D., Carter, S., Chang, T. P., Gessner, C., Gianonne, A., Giavasis, S., Glass, J., Homann, S., King, M., Kramer, M., Landis, D., Lieval, A., Lisinski, J., Mackay-Brandt, A., Miller, B., Panek, L., Reed, H., Santiago, C., Schoell, E., Sinnig, R., Sital, M., Taverna, E., Tobe, R., Trautman, K., Varghese, B., Walden, L., Wang, R., Waters, A. B., Wood, D. C., Castellanos, F. X., Leventhal, B., Colcombe, S. J., LaConte, S., Milham, M. P., Craddock, R. C. 2017; 146: 157-170

    Abstract

    This data descriptor describes a repository of openly shared data from an experiment to assess inter-individual differences in default mode network (DMN) activity. This repository includes cross-sectional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from the Multi Source Interference Task, to assess DMN deactivation, the Moral Dilemma Task, to assess DMN activation, a resting state fMRI scan, and a DMN neurofeedback paradigm, to assess DMN modulation, along with accompanying behavioral and cognitive measures. We report technical validation from n=125 participants of the final targeted sample of 180 participants. Each session includes acquisition of one whole-brain anatomical scan and whole-brain echo-planar imaging (EPI) scans, acquired during the aforementioned tasks and resting state. The data includes several self-report measures related to perseverative thinking, emotion regulation, and imaginative processes, along with a behavioral measure of rapid visual information processing. Technical validation of the data confirms that the tasks deactivate and activate the DMN as expected. Group level analysis of the neurofeedback data indicates that the participants are able to modulate their DMN with considerable inter-subject variability. Preliminary analysis of behavioral responses and specifically self-reported sleep indicate that as many as 73 participants may need to be excluded from an analysis depending on the hypothesis being tested. The present data are linked to the enhanced Nathan Kline Institute, Rockland Sample and builds on the comprehensive neuroimaging and deep phenotyping available therein. As limited information is presently available about individual differences in the capacity to directly modulate the default mode network, these data provide a unique opportunity to examine DMN modulation ability in relation to numerous phenotypic characteristics.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.10.048

    View details for PubMedID 27836708

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5322045

  • Nest suitability, fine-scale population structure and male-mediated dispersal of a solitary ground nesting bee in an urban landscape. PloS one López-Uribe, M. M., Morreale, S. J., Santiago, C. K., Danforth, B. N. 2015; 10 (5): e0125719

    Abstract

    Bees are the primary pollinators of flowering plants in almost all ecosystems. Worldwide declines in bee populations have raised awareness about the importance of their ecological role in maintaining ecosystem functioning. The naturally strong philopatric behavior that some bee species show can be detrimental to population viability through increased probability of inbreeding. Furthermore, bee populations found in human-altered landscapes, such as urban areas, can experience lower levels of gene flow and effective population sizes, increasing potential for inbreeding depression in wild bee populations. In this study, we investigated the fine-scale population structure of the solitary bee Colletes inaequalis in an urbanized landscape. First, we developed a predictive spatial model to detect suitable nesting habitat for this ground nesting bee and to inform our field search for nests. We genotyped 18 microsatellites in 548 female individuals collected from nest aggregations throughout the study area. Genetic relatedness estimates revealed that genetic similarity among individuals was slightly greater within nest aggregations than among randomly chosen individuals. However, genetic structure among nest aggregations was low (Nei's GST = 0.011). Reconstruction of parental genotypes revealed greater genetic relatedness among females than among males within nest aggregations, suggesting male-mediated dispersal as a potentially important mechanism of population connectivity and inbreeding avoidance. Size of nesting patch was positively correlated with effective population size, but not with other estimators of genetic diversity. We detected a positive trend between geographic distance and genetic differentiation between nest aggregations. Our landscape genetic models suggest that increased urbanization is likely associated with higher levels of inbreeding. Overall, these findings emphasize the importance of density and distribution of suitable nesting patches for enhancing bee population abundance and connectivity in human dominated habitats and highlights the critical contribution of landscape genetic studies for enhanced conservation and management of native pollinators.

    View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0125719

    View details for PubMedID 25950429

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4423849

  • Discovery and characterization of microsatellites for the solitary bee <i>Colletes inaequalis</i> using Sanger and 454 pyrosequencing APIDOLOGIE Lopez-Uribe, M. M., Santiago, C. K., Bogdanowicz, S. M., Danforth, B. N. 2013; 44 (2): 163-172