Ms. Santamarina leads clinical risk reduction and error prevention strategy across all Berkshire Health Systems facilities, guiding the organization’s commitment to patient safety, performance improvement and clinical excellence in a rural community healthcare setting. She has championed systematic implementation of evidence-based care practices and unified all system facilities under a coordinated framework to reduce patient harm and errors, advancing a culture of continuous improvement through data-driven decision-making and shared learning. Her leadership has supported a meaningful and positive shift in the organization’s culture of safety, with improved communication and reporting practices serving as key pillars of that transformation. Ms. Santamarina also serves as patient and family advocate for ASPirE, a consortium of top cancer centers that grew from the severe immunotherapy complications service and clinical-translational research effort originally based at Boston-based Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute. Effective April 2026, she was appointed interim vice president of quality for Berkshire Health Systems. Berkshire Medical Center earned an “A” hospital safety grade from The Leapfrog Group in fall 2025 and a 4-star rating for overall quality from CMS.
