Katherine Santilena

Senior Lecturer in Medicine, Health, and Society

Katharine (Kate) Santilena is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. Before joining Vanderbilt, she was a Teacher-Scholar Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, teaching introductory public health courses and conducting research focusing on digital technologies such as social media and generative AI for health promotion and health messaging. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Hawaii and has a master’s degree in Public Health and a master's degree in Kinesiology. Outside of academia, she is a former Division I collegiate swimmer, having swum for San Diego State University and the University of Hawaii.