Christine Cheston, MD is the Karp Family Professor and Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics in Hospital and Newborn Medicine at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, the Program Director of the Boston Combined Residency Program (BCRP) at Boston Medical Center (BMC), and the Medical Director of the Newborn Nursery at BMC. Dr. Cheston completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, and her medical training at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She completed her pediatric residency in the Urban Health and Advocacy Track of the BCRP and, as a senior resident, received the Harvard Medical Student Teaching Award. She graduated as Chief Resident at Boston Medical Center prior to joining the faculty. In 2022, she became one of the inaugural graduates of the Clinician Educator Leadership Program at BU and, in 2024, was selected for the Boston University Mid-Career Faculty Leadership Program.
Dr. Cheston has published important work on the role of social media in medical education, value-based health care in inpatient pediatrics, novel educational curricula focused on quality improvement and working with patients who prefer a language other than English, and advancing antiracism and equity both in medical education and clinical care. She has had early success as a QI leader, most notably with a medical interpreter project, which succeeded in incorporating in-person interpreters into family-centered rounds with non-English speaking families. She is passionate about formulating innovative educational strategies that teach residents how quality improvement solutions can address problems of health inequity to address structural determinants of health and that advance understanding of the intersection of systemic racism, bias, and pediatrics. Dr. Cheston is interested in studying best practices for incorporating antiracism into medical training for future pediatricians, enhancing equity using holistic evaluation in recruitment of a diverse pediatric workforce, and improving the learning climate for trainees from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism are at the center of Dr. Cheston's current and future educational and academic work. Early in her career as a resident, Dr. Cheston advocated for improvement in accessibility of professional interpreter services on family-centered rounds for admitted pediatric patients through a quality improvement initiative on the inpatient pediatrics floor that fundamentally changed the culture of care and focus on equity for patients with limited English proficiency. This work was expanded into the internal medicine inpatient units, NICU, and newborn nursery. She has been recognized for her leadership through partnership with the Interpreter Services department where she has led initiatives to streamline processes for universal testing for approved bilingual providers, both across the medical school, all graduate medical education (GME) programs, and hospital staff. Dr. Cheston was a key member of a recent hospital-wide committee that re-envisioned the way interpreter services are triaged and accessed throughout Boston Medical Center.
Academically, Dr. Cheston is interested in understanding how systems of recruitment and selection for residency training may be influenced by systemic racism and bias in the medical education pipeline as well as how residency programs may support trainees from diverse backgrounds in academic settings. Dr. Cheston has been one of two dedicated antiracism Associate Program Directors for the Boston Combined Residency Program, which is one of the largest pediatric residencies in the country. There, she has pioneered new techniques for conducting holistic review of medical student applications during residency recruitment, enhanced educational offerings and curricula for both residents and faculty across BMC and Boston Children's Hospital related to antiracism, and spearheaded initiatives that address workplace bias to improve retention of diverse residents. Dr. Cheston led development of a novel residency process to support of trainees who have experienced bias and microaggressions while ensuring accountability for systems-based change to prevent future events. Dr. Cheston has been recognized through invitation to join DEI-focused committees within the residency program, Department of Pediatrics, and GME office and is a member of the Associate of Pediatric Program Directors Underrepresented in Medicine Learning Community. Her teaching innovations have most recently focused on Racism and Poverty and Best Practices for Working with Interpreters, both currently being evaluated in preparation for dissemination.
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- Grant title
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- PI name, if this person is not the PI (the name will link if PI has a BU Profile)
- Funding source(s). An arrow indicates the flow of funding if multiple sponsors.
- Some grants will show an agency award/project number, and may be a link.
- Data is sorted by project end date, and updated monthly.
This tab shows grant data from the Boston VA. We are only showing grant title, and only for people in the role of PI.
Improving Identification of Patient Preferred Language and Need for Interpreter: A Quality Improvement Initiative in the Pediatric Emergency Department03/01/2022 - 02/28/2023 (PI)
Boston Medical Center
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Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other
sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can
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to make corrections and additions.
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Douglas KE, Fox MT, Cheston CC, Behara ML, Schoppel KA. Improving Interpreter Access in the Pediatric Emergency Department: A Quality Improvement Initiative. Pediatr Qual Saf. 2024; 9(4):e748. PMID: 38993271; PMCID: PMC11236402; DOI: 10.1097/pq9.0000000000000748;
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Alarcon LN, Ewen AM, Acuña-Martinez E, Cheston CC. Improving Communication with Patients with Limited English Proficiency: Non-English Language Proficiency Assessment for Clinicians. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2024 Jan; 50(1):83-86. PMID: 37730484
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Cheston CC, Luercio M, Streater B, Karim S, Sectish T, Michelson CD. A Bias Response Committee to Improve the Experience of Diverse Pediatric Residents. Acad Pediatr. 2023; 23(8):1500-1501.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37302702
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Edwards JG, Cheston CC, Kelly CA, Brewster RCL, Williams AR, Mell AJ. A Community-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative. Pediatrics. 2022 Dec 01; 150(6).View Related Profiles. PMID: 36349517
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Cheston CC, Michelson KA. Association of Virtual Interviews With Residency Application Geographic Diversity and Match. Acad Pediatr. 2023 Jul; 23(5):855-859. PMID: 36167252
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Fraiman YS, Cheston CC, Morales D, Leeman KT, Hansen AR. A mixed methods study of perceptions of bias among neonatal intensive care unit staff. Pediatr Res. 2023 May; 93(6):1672-1678. PMID: 36038641; PMCID: PMC9971322; DOI: 10.1038/s41390-022-02217-2;
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Fraiman YS, Cheston CC, Cabral HJ, Allen C, Asnes AG, Barrett JT, Batra M, Bernstein W, Bleeker T, Dietz PM, Lewis J, Li ST, Ma TM, Mahan JD, Michelson CD, Poynter SE, Vining MA, Watson K, Sox CM. Effect of a Novel Mindfulness Curriculum on Burnout During Pediatric Internship: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2022 Apr 01; 176(4):365-372.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35072694; PMCID: PMC8787682; DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5740;
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Murphy Salem S, Chase B, Newman LR, Cohen AP, Cheston C, Huth K. Perspectives on Complex Care Training in a Large Academic Pediatric Training Program. Acad Pediatr. 2022 Jul; 22(5):867-872.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35306188
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Cheston CC, Rutledge R, Hsu HE. Should We Prioritize Deimplementation of Continuous Pulse Oximetry in Bronchiolitis Care? JAMA Pediatr. 2021 05 01; 175(5):459-461.View Related Profiles. PMID: 33646260
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Pingree EW, Huth K, Harper BD, Nakamura MM, Marcus CH, Cheston CC, Schumacher DJ, Winn AS. Encouraging Entrustment: A Qualitative Study of Resident Behaviors That Promote Entrustment. Acad Med. 2020 11; 95(11):1718-1725. PMID: 32379141
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Cheston CC, Vinci RJ. Overuse of Continuous Pulse Oximetry for Bronchiolitis: The Need for Deimplementation Science. JAMA. 2020 04 21; 323(15):1449-1450.View Related Profiles. PMID: 32315041
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Cheston CC, Alarcon LN, Martinez JF, Hadland SE, Moses JM. Evaluating the Feasibility of Incorporating In-Person Interpreters on Family-Centered Rounds: A QI Initiative. Hosp Pediatr. 2018 08; 8(8):471-478.View Related Profiles. PMID: 30018123
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Roy D, Taylor J, Cheston CC, Flickinger TE, Chisolm MS. Social Media: Portrait of an Emerging Tool in Medical Education. Acad Psychiatry. 2016 Feb; 40(1):136-40. PMID: 25800704; DOI: 10.1007/s40596-014-0278-5;
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Batt-Rawden S, Flickinger T, Weiner J, Cheston C, Chisolm M. The role of social media in clinical excellence. Clin Teach. 2014 Jul; 11(4):264-9. PMID: 24917094; DOI: 10.1111/tct.12129;
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Cheston CC, Flickinger TE, Chisolm MS. Social media use in medical education: a systematic review. Acad Med. 2013 Jun; 88(6):893-901. PMID: 23619071; DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e31828ffc23;
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Tchouaffi-Nana F, Ballard TE, Cary CH, Macdonald TL, Sifri CD, Hoffman PS. Nitazoxanide inhibits biofilm formation by Staphylococcus epidermidis by blocking accumulation on surfaces. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2010 Jul; 54(7):2767-74. PMID: 20404119; PMCID: PMC2897279; DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00901-09;
This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown,
or last author.
| Year | Publications |
|---|
| 2010 | 1 |
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 6 |
| 2023 | 2 |
| 2024 | 1 |
2023-2024 Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine:
Educator of the Year in Clinical Sciences
2021-2023 Boston Combined Residency Program:
Feedback Honor Roll
2020-2024 Boston Combined Residency Program:
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Honor Roll
2017-2024 Boston Combined Residency Program:
Teaching Honor Roll
2004-2008 University of Virginia:
Echols Scholar
2007 University of Virginia:
Phi Beta Kappa
2008 University of Virginia:
BA with Highest Distinction
2012 Johns Hopkins School of Medicine:
Alpha Omega Alpha
2015 Harvard Medical School:
Resident Teaching Award
2016 Boston Medical Center:
Robert J. Vinci Award
2017 Boston Combined Residency Program:
Academic Pediatric Association Teaching Program Award
I find great joy in supporting young medical trainees and other health professionals in identifying their passions and then working to foster those passions through navigating professional "next steps" strategically. I also enjoy providing methodologic mentorship related to educational research or quality improvement project development focused on health equity, systemic racism, workplace bias, or patient populations facing social injustice, including those with limited English proficiency.
Available to Mentor as: (Review Mentor Role Definitions):
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Career Mentor
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Education Mentor
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Project Mentor