Lekshmi Santhosh, MD, MA

Associate Professor

CLINICAL ACTIVITIES
Dr. Lekshmi Santhosh is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Divisions of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine & Hospital Medicine. Clinically, she attends in the Medical ICU, the Neuro ICU, on the Internal Medicine teaching wards, and has clinic at the Pulmonary Outpatient Faculty Practice at UCSF-Parnassus. She is the founder and Medical Director of the multidisciplinary long-COVID/post-ICU OPTIMAL Clinic at UCSF Health.

EDUCATIONAL & RESEARCH PURSUITS
She serves as the Associate Program Director for Curriculum for the Internal Medicine Residency and the Associate Program Director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. She also is the Director of the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds. She obtained her Master's in Health Professions Education from UC-Berkeley. Her primary scholarly interests in medical education research are related to ICU transitions of care, women in leadership, clinical reasoning, and subspecialty career choice.
Education
MAEd, 2019 - Education, University of California
2018 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
2018 - Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship, University of California
2015 - Internal Medicine Chief Resident (UCSF-Parnassus Site), University of California
2014 - Internal Medicine Residency, University of California
MD, 2011 - Medicine, Harvard Medical School
BA, 2007 - Psychology/Behavioral Neuroscience, Yale University
Honors and Awards
  • UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award, UCSF, 2023
  • Floyd C. Rector Mentor Research Award, UCSF Internal Medicine Residency, 2023
  • ATS Scholar Top Reviewer Award, American Thoracic Society, 2021
  • NAM Scholar in Diagnostic Excellence, National Academy of Medicine, 2021
  • Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators Member, UCSF, 2021
  • Floyd C. Rector Housestaff Teaching Award, UCSF Internal Medicine Residency, 2021
  • UCSF Excellence in Teaching for Clinical Faculty Award, UCSF School of Medicine, 2021
  • Alison Clay Early Career Educator Award, American Thoracic Society, 2020
  • Emerging Educator Award, Association of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Program Directors, 2020
  • Outstanding Resident Teaching Award, UCSF Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2020
  • Bridges Curriculum - Foundations 1 and 2 Teaching Award - Outstanding Lecture, UCSF, 2019
  • CHEST/ACCP Early Career Professional Development Scholarship Award, CHEST/ACCP, 2018
  • UCSF School of Medicine Pathways to Discovery 2017-2018 Long-Term Mentor Award, UCSF, 2018
  • Research in Medical Education Award, Association of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Program Directors, 2017
  • Best Oral Research Presentation Award, Western Group on Educational Affairs (WGEA/AAMC), 2017
  • Best Clinical Fellow Award, Division of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine (2-time winner), UCSF, 2016-2017
  • Teaching Excellence Award for Cherished House Staff (T.E.A.C.H.) Winner, UCSF, 2016
  • UCSF Excellence and Innovation in Graduate Medical Education Award, UCSF, 2016
Websites
Publications

  1. Santhosh L. Reckoning with uncertainty to repair trust. Journal of hospital medicine 2024. PMID: 38590047


  2. McGourty CA, Castillo F, Donzelli G, Keenan BP, Gilbreth M, Santhosh L. Creation of a sustainable longitudinal women in Leadership Development (WILD) curriculum focused on graduate medical education trainees. BMC medical education 2024. PMID: 38580971


  4. Bansal R, Bhatia M, Santhosh L. Centering health equity during handoff communications. Journal of hospital medicine 2024. PMID: 38450941


  5. Patrick G. Lyons, Juan C. Rojas, Alice F. Bewley, Sara M. Malone, Lekshmi Santhosh. Validating the Physician Documentation Quality Instrument for Intensive Care Unit–Ward Transfer Notes. ATS Scholar 2024. PMID:


  6. Huppert LA, Santhosh L, Alba-Nguyen S, Lai CJ, Babik JM. Changes in Gender and Racial/Ethnic Diversity in US Residency Program Applications From 2018 to 2022. Journal of graduate medical education 2024. PMID: 38304603


  7. Ozonoff A, Jayavelu ND, Liu S, Melamed E, Milliren CE, Qi J, Geng LN, McComsey GA, Cairns CB, Baden LR, Schaenman J, Shaw AC, Samaha H, Seyfert-Margolis V, Krammer F, Rosen LB, Steen H, Syphurs C, Dandekar R, Shannon CP, Sekaly RP, Ehrlich LIR, Corry DB, Kheradmand F, Atkinson MA, Brakenridge SC, Higuita NIA, Metcalf JP, Hough CL, Messer WB, Pulendran B, Nadeau KC, Davis MM, Sesma AF, Simon V, van Bakel H, Kim-Schulze S, Hafler DA, Levy O, Kraft M, Bime C, Haddad EK, Calfee CS, Erle DJ, Langelier CR, Eckalbar W, Bosinger SE, IMPACC Network, Peters B, Kleinstein SH, Reed EF, Augustine AD, Diray-Arce J, Maecker HT, Altman MC, Montgomery RR, Becker PM, Rouphael N. Features of acute COVID-19 associated with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 phenotypes: results from the IMPACC study. Nature communications 2024. PMID: 38172101


  8. Dyster T, Santhosh L. Beyond the Procedure Log: Using Individualized Learning Plans to Set Learner-Specific Milestones for Procedural Skills Acquisition. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2023. PMID: 38113441


  9. Santhosh L, Vo A, Wick C, Mourad M, Sarkar U, Jagsi R, Mangurian C. Policies to Support Lactation at Highly Ranked US Medical Schools. JAMA network open 2023. PMID: 37889493


  10. Avraham Z. Cooper, Snigdha Jain, Lekshmi Santhosh, W. Graham Carlos. Eye on the Prize: Patient Outcomes Research in Medical Education. ATS Scholar 2023. PMID:


  11. Tammy L. Eaton, Valerie Danesh, Carla M. Sevin, Kelly Potter, Han Su, Theodore J. Iwashyna, Leanne M. Boehm, Joanne McPeake, Critical and Acute Illness Recovery Organization Post-ICU Clinic Collaborative, Taylor Bernstein, Rita N. Bakhru, Michael Baram, Michelle Biehl, Amy L. Bellinghausen, J. Gordon Boyd, Brad W. Butcher, Melanie Dalton, Neha S. Dangayach, Kyle B. Enfield, K. Sarah Hoehn, Aluko A. Hope, David Hornstein, Sugeet Jagpal, Sarah E. Jolley, Babar A. Khan, Michael T. Kenes, Janet Kloos, Karen A. Korzick, Lindsay Lief, Eric Mahoney, Jason H. Maley, Kirby P. Mayer, Tresa McNeal, Jakob I. McSparron, Joel Meyer, Rima A. Mohammad, Ashley Montgomery-Yates, Vanessa Nomellini, Ann M. Parker, Kehllee Popovich, Janelle Poyant, Tara Quasim, Howard Saft, Lekshmi Santhosh, Kristin Schwab, Andrew Slack, Joanna L. Stollings, David Sousa, Heather Torbic, Thomas S. Valley, Dario Villalba. Importance of Reconnection With ICU Survivors to ICU Recovery Program Clinicians. 2023. PMID:


  12. Cornell EG, Harris E, McCune E, Fukui E, Lyons PG, Rojas JC, Santhosh L. Scaling up a diagnostic pause at the ICU-to-ward transition: an exploration of barriers and facilitators to implementation of the ICU-PAUSE handoff tool. Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany) 2023. PMID: 37598362


  13. Salazar JW, Minter DJ, Tseng ZH, Santhosh L. Exercises in Clinical Reasoning: Beyond the Surface. Journal of general internal medicine 2023. PMID: 37592120


  15. Santhosh L, Cornell E, Rojas JC, Lyons P.. Diagnostic Safety Across Transitions of Care Throughout the Healthcare System: Current State and a Call to Action Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Publication 2023. PMID:


  16. Lee AG, Maley J, Hibbert K, Akgün KM, Hauschildt KE, Law A, Kaminski N, Hayes M, Gesthalter Y, Bosslet GT, Santhosh L, Witkin A, Hills-Dunlap K, Çoruh B, Gershengorn HB, Hardin CC. Medical Societies Must Choose Professional Meeting Locations Responsibly in a Post-Roe World. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2023. PMID: 36812378


  17. Baugh AD, Santhosh L. Discourage Paint-by-Numbers Presentations. ATS Scholar 2023. PMID: 37089686


  18. Pulia MS, Papanagnou D, Santhosh L. Time to Reimagine Diagnosis in the Acute Care Setting. Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2023. PMID: 36764669


  19. Olson EM, Sanborn DM, Dyster TG, Kelm DJ, Murray SG, Santhosh L, DesJardin JT. Gender Disparities in Critical Care Procedure Training of Internal Medicine Residents. ATS Scholar 2023. PMID: 37538076


  20. Fukui EM, Lyons PG, Harris E, McCune EK, Rojas JC, Santhosh L. Improving Communication in Intensive Care Unit to Ward Transitions: Protocol for Multisite National Implementation of the ICU-PAUSE Handoff Tool. JMIR Research Protocols 2023. PMID: 36745494


  21. Levan S, Mourad M, Block B, Shah R, Santhosh L. Impact of a Multidisciplinary Post-COVID-19 Clinic on Hospital Admissions and ED Visits. Chest 2023. PMID: 36610666


  23. Holzer H, Salib S, Wray C, Santhosh L. Reimagining the Learner-Employee Dyad: Trainees as "Essential Learners". Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2022. PMID: 36287719


  24. Santhosh L, Witt L. Jane (or Dr Doe?) Will Reply to Your Patient Portal Message Now. JAMA network open 2022. PMID: 36197669


  25. Moulder G, Harris E, Santhosh L. Teaching the science of uncertainty. Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany) 2022. PMID: 36087299


  26. Camac E, Stewart N, Santhosh L, Carlos WG, Denson JL, Heath J. Best Practices for Remediation in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Training. ATS Scholar 2022. PMID: 36312805


  27. Santhosh L, Rojek AE, Yim JWL, Lisker S, Wang K, Dy M, Sarkar U. Analysis of Narrative Text in Evaluations of Continuing Medical Education Faculty by Gender. JAMA network open 2022. PMID: 35994291


  28. Santhosh L. Beyond "In the Red": Building the Business Case for a Post-COVID Clinic. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35231201


  29. Guo MZ, Allen J, Sakumoto M, Pahwa A, Santhosh L. Reimagining Undergraduate Medical Education in a Post-COVID-19 Landscape. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35710661


  30. Santhosh L, Rojas JC, Garcia B, Thomashow M, Lyons PG. Cocreating the ICU-PAUSE Tool for Intensive Care Unit-Ward Transitions. ATS Scholar 2022. PMID: 35924191


  31. Santhosh L, Abdoler E, O'Brien BC, Schwartz B. How do internal medicine subspecialty societies support clinician-educator careers? A qualitative exploratory study. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35361197


  32. Danesh V, Boehm LM, Eaton TL, Arroliga AC, Mayer KP, Kesler SR, Bakhru RN, Baram M, Bellinghausen AL, Biehl M, Dangayach NS, Goldstein NM, Hoehn KS, Islam M, Jagpal S, Johnson AB, Jolley SE, Kloos JA, Mahoney EJ, Maley JH, Martin SF, McSparron JI, Mery M, Saft H, Santhosh L, Schwab K, Villalba D, Sevin CM, Montgomery AA. Characteristics of Post-ICU and Post-COVID Recovery Clinics in 29 U.S. Health Systems. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35291316


  33. Butler SJ, Santhosh L, Gupta S, Parker AM, Gershon AS. Long COVID Patient Fact Sheet. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35103573


  34. Abdoler E, Santhosh L. Leadership & professional development: Coach, mentor, sponsor…peer? Cultivating a successful peer mentorship. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35504581


  35. Harris E, Santhosh L. Dual Process Theory and Cognitive Load: How Intensivists Make Diagnoses. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 34794629


  36. Dewland TA, Whitman IR, Win S, Sanchez JM, Olgin JE, Pletcher MJ, Santhosh L, Kumar U, Joyce S, Yang V, Hwang J, Ogomori K, Peyser N, Horner C, Wen D, Butcher X, Marcus GM. Prospective arrhythmia surveillance after a COVID-19 diagnosis. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35058344


  37. Santhosh L, Block B, Kim SY, Raju S, Shah RJ, Thakur N, Brigham EP, Parker AM. Response. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35000721


  38. Heath JK, Wang T, Santhosh L, Denson JL, Holmboe E, Yamakazi K, Clay AS, Carlos WG. Longitudinal Milestone Assessment Extending Through Subspecialty Training: The Relationship Between ACGME Internal Medicine Residency Milestones and Subsequent Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Milestones. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2021. PMID: 34010863


  39. Brown C, Jain S, Santhosh L. How Has the Pandemic Affected Women in Medicine? A Survey-Based Study on Perceptions of Personal and Career Impacts of COVID-19. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2021. PMID: 34671760


  40. Samantha Wang, Lekshmi Santhosh, Charlie Wray. Leadership & Professional Development: How to Teach When You Don’t Know. Journal of hospital medicine 2021. PMID:


  41. Ahmad TR, Kazberouk A, Santhosh L, Hsu G, Dhaliwal G. Tissue, Teamwork, and Timing: an Exercise in Clinical Reasoning. Journal of general internal medicine 2021. PMID: 34244961


  42. Chou CL, Connor DM, Santhosh L. Emphasizing Empathy in Communicating About Uncertainty by Using a Dialogic Approach. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2021. PMID: 34183477


  43. Kassutto SM, Santhosh L, Dine CJ, Kreider M, Lapin J, Shah RJ. A Novel Ambulatory Curriculum for Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Training. ATS Scholar 2021. PMID: 34409420


  45. Han HJ, Parks AL, Shah MP, Hsu G, Santhosh L. An Elusive Seizure. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2021. PMID: 34950412


  48. Santhosh L, Carroll CL, Seam N. Tips and Traps for Trainees Traversing Social Media. ATS Scholar 2021. PMID: 34409413


  49. Santhosh L, Rojas JC, Lyons PG. Zooming into Focus Groups: Strategies for Qualitative Research in the Era of Social Distancing. ATS Scholar 2021. PMID: 34409412


  50. Huppert LA, Hsiao EC, Cho KC, Marquez C, Chaudhry RI, Frank J, Goglin SE, Hsu G, Kathpalia P, Khanna R, Kompala T, Rao MN, Bower BA, Trafas V, Santhosh L, Schwartz BS, Babik JM. Virtual Interviews at Graduate Medical Education Training Programs: Determining Evidence-Based Best Practices. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2020. PMID: 33298691


  51. Sockrider M, Jamil S, Santhosh L, Carlos WG. COVID-19 Infection versus Influenza (Flu) and Other Respiratory Illnesses. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2020. PMID: 33021812


  52. Jain S, Santhosh L. On Treatments and Tests Deferred: Preparing for Collateral Damage from COVID-19. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2020. PMID: 32667208


  53. Brown W, Santhosh L, Brady AK, Denson JL, Niroula A, Pugh ME, Self WH, Joffe AM, O'Neal Maynord P, Carlos WG. A call for collaboration and consensus on training for endotracheal intubation in the medical intensive care unit. Critical care (London, England) 2020. PMID: 33092615


  54. Anna K. Brady, Wade Brown, Joshua L. Denson, Gretchen Winter, Abesh Niroula, Lekshmi Santhosh, W. Graham Carlos. Variation in Intensive Care Unit Intubation Practices in Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. 2020. PMID:


  55. Brady AK, Brown W, Denson JL, Winter G, Niroula A, Santhosh L, Carlos WG. Variation in Intensive Care Unit Intubation Practices in Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. ATS Scholar 2020. PMID: 33728421


  56. Santhosh L, Harleman E, Venado A, Farrand E, E Gilbreth M, Keenan BP, Thompson VV, Shah RJ. Strategies for forming effective women's groups. The clinical teacher 2020. PMID: 33058547


  57. Lyons PG, Rojas JC, Santhosh L. Patient Safety and Resident Schedules without 24-Hour Shifts. The New England journal of medicine 2020. PMID: 32966729


  58. Santhosh L, Alismail A, Breiburg A, Carlos G, Jamil S. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Lung Specialists of the World Implore You: Inhale Only Clean Air. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2020. PMID: 32930633


  59. Widera E, Anderson WG, Santhosh L, McKee KY, Smith AK, Frank J. Family Meetings on Behalf of Patients with Serious Illness. The New England journal of medicine 2020. PMID: 32905678


  60. Sewell JL, Santhosh L, O'Sullivan PS. How do attending physicians describe cognitive overload among their workplace learners? Medical education 2020. PMID: 32628785


  61. Santhosh L, Keenan BP, Jain S. The "Third Shift": A Path Forward to Recognizing and Funding Gender Equity Efforts. Journal of women's health (2002) 2020. PMID: 32744885


  62. Santhosh L, Babik JM. Diversity of the ID Trainee Pipeline: The Future Looks Bright, But We Must Not Be Complacent. The Journal of infectious diseases 2020. PMID: 31943040


  63. Santhosh L, Sewell J. Hospitalist and Intensivist Experiences of the "Open" Intensive Care Unit Environment: a Qualitative Exploration. Journal of general internal medicine 2020. PMID: 32462568


  67. Steinbach TC, Adamson R, Carlos WG, Denson JL, Kritek PA, Santhosh L, Seam N, Wang TS, Çoruh B. Leadership Training in Pulmonary and Critical Care: A National Survey of Fellowship Program Directors. Volume 17 of Issue 2. 2020. PMID: 31661296


  68. Santhosh L.. From Bedrest to Balance 2019. PMID:


  69. Seam N, Richards JB, Kritek PA, Khemasuwan D, McCallister JW, Santhosh L, Prasad B, Bhargava S, Clay AS, Crotty Alexander LE. Design and Implementation of a Peer-Reviewed Medical Education Video Competition: The Best of American Thoracic Society Video Lecture Series. Volume 11 of Issue 5. Journal of graduate medical education 2019. PMID: 31636831


  70. Hemmat S, Santhosh L. Diagnostic Error and Anchoring Bias in a Patient with Schizophrenia. Volume 133 of Issue 3. The American journal of medicine 2019. PMID: 31520621


  71. Zejnullahu K, Santhosh L, Mourad M, Connor DM. Off Trail, On Track: an Exercise in Clinical Reasoning. Journal of general internal medicine 2019. PMID: 31270781


  72. Santhosh L, Chou CL, Connor DM. Diagnostic uncertainty: from education to communication. Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany) 2019. PMID: 30851157


  73. Santhosh L, Abdoler E, Babik JM. Strategies to build a clinician-educator career. 2019. PMID: 30859740


  74. Keenan B, Santhosh L, Thompson V, Harleman E. The Complex Problem of Women Trainees in Academic Medicine. Journal of hospital medicine 2019. PMID: 30811328


  75. Jamil S, Carlos WG, Leard L, Wang A, Santhosh L, Balmes J, Seam N, Dela Cruz CS. Wildfires Disaster Guidance: Tips for Staying Healthy during Wildfires. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2019. PMID: 30644780


  76. Santhosh L, Lyons PG, Rojas JC, Ciesielski TM, Beach S, Farnan JM, Arora V. Characterising ICU-ward handoffs at three academic medical centres: process and perceptions. Volume 28 of Issue 8. BMJ quality & safety 2019. PMID: 30636201


  77. Zapata CB, Santhosh L. We May Not "Have It All," But We Can Make It Better through Structural Changes. Journal of hospital medicine 2018. PMID: 30496331


  80. Santhosh L, Brown W, Ferreira J, Niroula A, Carlos WG. Practical Tips for ICU Bedside Teaching. Volume 154 of Issue 4. Chest 2018. PMID: 30290929


  81. Santhosh L, Koth L, Baudendistel TE, Sharpe B, Monash B. Tissue Isn't the Issue. Journal of hospital medicine 2018. PMID: 29694457


  82. Santhosh L, Jain S, Brady A, Sharp M, Carlos WG. Intensive Care Unit Educators: A Multicenter Evaluation of Behaviors Residents Value in Attending Physicians. Volume 14 of Issue 4. 2017. PMID: 28287827


  83. Santhosh L, Babik J, Looney MR, Hollander H. Whither the Pulmonary Ward Attending? Preserving Subspecialty Exposure in United States Internal Medicine Residency Training. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2017. PMID: 28362539


  84. Lekshmi Santhosh, Raman Khanna. Medicine Enters the Computer Age. 2017. PMID:


  86. Santhosh L, Meriwether M, Saucedo C, Reyes R, Cheng C, Clark B, Tipperman D, Schroeder SA. From the sidelines to the frontline: how the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration embraced smoking cessation. Volume 104 of Issue 5. American journal of public health 2014. PMID: 24625143


  87. Santhosh L, Estok KM, Vogel RS, Tamagnan GD, Baldwin RM, Mitsis EM, Macavoy MG, Staley JK, van Dyck CH. Regional distribution and behavioral correlates of 5-HT(2A) receptors in Alzheimer's disease with [(18)F]deuteroaltanserin and PET. Volume 173 of Issue 3. Psychiatry research 2009. PMID: 19682865


  88. Klein AP, Kovac I, Sorant AJ, Baffoe-Bonnie A, Doan BQ, Ibay G, Lockwood E, Mandal D, Santhosh L, Weissbecker K, Woo J, Zambelli-Weiner A, Zhang J, Naiman DQ, Malley J, Bailey-Wilson JE. Importance sampling method of correction for multiple testing in affected sib-pair linkage analysis. Volume 4 Suppl 1. 2003. PMID: 14975141