Veronica A. Santana-Ufret, MD

Dr. Verónica Santana-Ufret originally hails from Puerto Rico, though she mainly grew up in Seattle, Washington. She split her childhood between the island and the Pacific Northwest, thus she is a proud Boricua and granola Seattleite. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology at the University of Washington where she also found herself a husband. He spent enough of her research year at Seattle Children’s Hospital extolling the wonders of the Midwest to convince her to venture to Wayne State University in his home state of Michigan for her medical degree. Verónica completed a yearlong research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health during medical school, after which she earned her medical degree and birthed her feisty, vivacious daughter, Charli Jane. Verónica looks forward to continuing to engage her passion for advocacy and working with underserved populations while at IU School of Medicine. In her free time Verónica loves to play with her daughter and husband, dance, hike, and eat.

Escalera C, Strassle PD, Quintero SM, Maldonado AI, Withrow D, Alhomsi A, Bonilla J, Santana-Ufret V, Nápoles AM. Perceived general, mental, and physical health of Latinos in the United States following adoption of immigrant-inclusive state-level driver's license policies: a time-series analysis. BMC Public Health. 2022 Aug 24;22(1):1609. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14022-x. PMID: 36002845; PMCID: PMC9400259.

Samayoa C, Santana-Ufret V, Santoyo-Olsson J, Strassle PD, Stewart A, Bonilla J, Escalera C, Mendez RM, Márquez-Magaña L, Ortiz C, Ceballos RM, Nápoles AM. Cortisol levels in rural Latina breast cancer survivors participating in a peer-delivered cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention: The Nuevo Amanecer-II RCT. Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2022 Jun 24;11:100153. doi: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2022.100153. PMID: 35967922; PMCID: PMC9363644.

Strassle PD, Stewart AL, Quintero SM, Bonilla J, Alhomsi A, Santana-Ufret V, Maldonado AI, Forde AT, Nápoles AM. COVID-19-Related Discrimination Among Racial/Ethnic Minorities and Other Marginalized Communities in the United States. Am J Public Health. 2022 Mar;112(3):453-466. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306594. PMID: 35196054; PMCID: PMC8887166.

María Nápoles A, Stewart AL, Strassle PD, Quintero S, Bonilla J, Alhomsi A, Santana-Ufret V, Maldonado AI, Pérez-Stable EJ. Racial/ethnic disparities in intent to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine: A nationally representative United States survey. Prev Med Rep. 2021

Armistead B, Quach P, Snyder JM, Santana-Ufret V, Furuta A, Brokaw A, Rajagopal L. Hemolytic Membrane Vesicles of Group B Streptococcus Promote Infection. J Infect Dis. 2021 Apr 23;223(8):1488-1496. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa548. PMID: 32861213; PMCID: PMC8064051.

Armistead B, Herrero-Foncubierta P, Coleman M, Quach P, Whidbey C, Justicia J, Tapia R, Casares R, Millán A, Haidour A, Granger JR, Vornhagen J, Santana-Ufret V, Merillat S, Adams Waldorf K, Cuerva JM, Rajagopal L. Lipid analogs reveal features critical for hemolysis and diminish granadaene mediated Group B Streptococcus infection. Nat Commun. 2020 Mar 20;11(1):1502. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15282-0. PMID: 32198389; PMCID: PMC7083881.

Vornhagen J, Armistead B, Santana-Ufret V, Gendrin C, Merillat S, Coleman M, Quach P, Boldenow E, Alishetti V, Leonhard-Melief C, Ngo LY, Whidbey C, Doran KS, Curtis C, Waldorf KMA, Nance E, Rajagopal L. Group B streptococcus exploits vaginal epithelial exfoliation for ascending infection. J Clin Invest. 2018 May 1;128(5):1985-1999. doi: 10.1172/JCI97043. Epub 2018 Apr 9. PMID: 29629904; PMCID: PMC5919824.

Vornhagen J, Quach P, Santana-Ufret V, Alishetti V, Brokaw A, Armistead B, Qing Tang H, MacDonald JW, Bammler TK, Adams Waldorf KM, Uldbjerg N, Rajagopal L. Human Cervical Mucus Plugs Exhibit Insufficiencies in Antimicrobial Activity Towards Group B Streptococcus. J Infect Dis. 2018 Apr 23;217(10):1626-1636. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy076. PMID: 29425317; PMCID: PMC5913629.

Adams Waldorf KM, Nelson BR, Stencel-Baerenwald JE, Studholme C, Kapur RP, Armistead B, Walker CL, Merillat S, Vornhagen J, Tisoncik-Go J, Baldessari A, Coleman M, Dighe MK, Shaw DWW, Roby JA, Santana-Ufret V, Boldenow E, Li J, Gao X, Davis MA, Swanstrom JA, Jensen K, Widman DG, Baric RS, Medwid JT, Hanley KA, Ogle J, Gough GM, Lee W, English C, Durning WM, Thiel J, Gatenby C, Dewey EC, Fairgrieve MR, Hodge RD, Grant RF, Kuller L, Dobyns WB, Hevner RF, Gale M Jr, Rajagopal L. Congenital Zika virus infection as a silent pathology with loss of neurogenic output in the fetal brain. Nat Med. 2018 Mar;24(3):368-374. doi: 10.1038/nm.4485. Epub 2018 Feb 5. PMID: 29400709; PMCID: PMC5839998.

Boldenow E, Gendrin C, Ngo L, Bierle C, Vornhagen J, Coleman M, Merillat S, Armistead B, Whidbey C, Alishetti V, Santana-Ufret V, Ogle J, Gough M, Srinouanprachanh S, MacDonald JW, Bammler TK, Bansal A, Liggitt HD, Rajagopal L, Adams Waldorf KM. Group B Streptococcus circumvents neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps during amniotic cavity invasion and preterm labor. Sci Immunol. 2016 Oct;1(4):eaah4576. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aah4576. Epub 2016 Oct 14. PMID: 27819066; PMCID: PMC5089172.

Gendrin C, Vornhagen J, Ngo L, Whidbey C, Boldenow E, Santana-Ufret V, Clauson M, Burnside K, Galloway DP, Adams Waldorf KM, Piliponsky AM, Rajagopal L. Mast cell degranulation by a hemolytic lipid toxin decreases GBS colonization and infection. Sci Adv. 2015 Jul 17;1(6):e1400225. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1400225. PMID: 26425734; PMCID: PMC4584422.