2025–2026 NHLCC Scholar: Sofía Santillán Herrera

Sofía Santillán Herrera

MD
National Autonomous University of Mexico

Sofía Santillán Herrera is a Mexican medical trainee and cardiovascular researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, specializing in heart failure care pathways and evidence-to-practice implementation. Her journey in medicine was shaped early on by the insight that “you can do more harm with a pen than with a scalpel,” a perspective that reframed her approach from individual patient care to systemic impact through data, policy, and decision-making.

Driven by a commitment to multidisciplinary training, Sofía combines rigorous scientific inquiry with a socially grounded approach. She has taught Public Health and Biomedical Informatics, exploring how data becomes a meaningful tool for both patients and clinicians when thoughtfully collected and interpreted. Her clinical experience in Mexico has honed her judgment in high-demand, resource-limited settings, while a rotation in France highlighted global contrasts and deepened her ambition for scalable, locally responsive solutions.

Sofía has served as Bioethics Coordinator at SDG Hub UNAM, advocating for dignity, justice, and sustainability, and as Chief of Medical Interns at Hospital Médica Sur (a Mayo Clinic Care Network member), where she coordinated care and education across busy clinical services. Her research spans STEMI strategies, protocolized heart failure care, congenital heart disease, and endocarditis, with presentations at ESC 2025, SIAC, and national conferences including C3, CITIC, SMC, and SOMEIC.

Her career goal is to pursue advanced training in public health and continue learning in international settings, ultimately becoming a cardiologist with a strong foundation in the social determinants of health. She seeks the tools to critically evaluate policy and translate evidence into practice, with the long-term aim of contributing to the reform of Mexico’s health system to meet its growing cardiovascular needs efficiently and equitably.

Above all, she remains guided by the principle that policy, protocol, and publication can heal—or harm—at scale, and she is committed to bridging scientific rigor with compassionate leadership to build systems that serve patients at their most vulnerable.