About me
Dr. Kristen Hughes is a pediatrician in Santa Barbara, California. She completed her medical school and pediatric residency training at Loma Linda University. She now serves at risk and vulnerable youth through her practice of medicine in the Santa Barbara county clinics operated by the Public Health Department. She is passionate about her work with children and teens, and is especially interested in helping them (and their families) establish healthy relationships with screen-based technology, like smartphones. She has been invited to speak on this issue at schools, community events and recently at Cottage Children’s Medical Center Pediatric Grand Rounds. She is now also leading a pediatric residency community project aimed at educating youth about healthy and safe screen use. She is a UCSF Champion Provider Fellowship graduate, through which she impacted positive policy, systems and environmental change in her community related to pediatric disease prevention. She is co-founder of TechWise SB a coalition of medical and mental health providers working to support families with screen-based technology. And she was also a guest speaker at the Human Trafficking Central Coast Forum, where she raised awareness about exploitation of children online. Her greatest joy, however, is in being a wife and mother of two children. Together they enjoy soccer, camping, playing at the beach, and traveling.