John Santelli

John Santelli, MD, MPH is a Professor of Population and Family Health and Pediatrics working primarily in the Department of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School. Dr. Santelli has conducted demographic and policy-related research on HIV/STD risk behaviors, trends in teen fertility, programs to prevent STD/HIV/unintended pregnancy, school-based health centers, adolescent clinical preventive services, and research ethics. Dr. Santelli is a senior consultant for the Guttmacher Institute, a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Adolescent Health, a member of the 2016 Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, and a past President of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. He has been a national leader in ensuring that adolescents have access to medically accurate, comprehensive sexuality education, and are ethically included in health research.

He has been the principal investigator of three NICHD-funded projects on HIV risk among youth, linkages between HIV infection and reproductive health, and the influence of social determinants and social transitions on HIV risk with the Rakai Health Sciences Project in southern Uganda.

Prior to coming to Columbia in 2004, he worked—for 20 years—in local and national public health at the Baltimore City Health Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research Interests

Adolescent / Young Adult Developmental Transitions
Adolescents/Youth
HIV Interventions
HIV Prevention
HIV Treatment and Care
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Social Determinants