Monica
Santisteban

Dr. Monica Santisteban is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a member of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center. She earned her PhD in Physiology from the University of Florida, where she studied neurogenic mechanisms of hypertension and the renin angiotensin system. She then completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College, focusing on the impact of hypertension on cerebrovascular and cognitive health. Her previous studies unveiled the impact of angiotensin-dependent disruption of the blood-brain barrier during hypertension, as well as an important role of dural immune activation in mediating cognitive impairment during hypertension. The overall goal of her research program is to understand the molecular mechanisms by which cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension and aortic stiffening, contribute to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.