Dr. Czarina A. "Rina" Santos-Borja, director of geriatric services at Sheppard Pratt Health System, who was known for her wide smile and ability to put patients and their families at ease, died April 12 at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center of a sudden cranial aneurysm. The Perry Hall resident was 49.
"She was a remarkable leader at Sheppard Pratt and was not only a wonderful clinical psychiatrist but had superb patient skills when interacting with geriatric patients and their families," said Dr. Steve S. Sharfstein, president and chief executive officer of Sheppard Pratt.
"She was a role model for the system, had a wonderful work ethic and was unfailingly optimistic," said Dr. Sharfstein. "She had a ready smile and the ability to bring together people and complex problems in a way that you felt there was progress moving forward and that a solution was to be had."
"Rina was very conscientious and very passionate about patient care, plus she had very high standards," said Dr. Robert P. Roca, a psychiatrist who is vice president and medical director at Sheppard Pratt.
"She inspired people around her with her commitment to older adults, and she was very approachable," he said. "And when it came to the nursing staff, she was one of the girls and did not lord it over them that she was medical director. She partnered with them and led by example. She was inspiring as a leader."
"Rina may have been short of stature but she cast a long shadow," said Bonnie B. Katz, vice president of business development and support operations at Sheppard Pratt. "She had a very vibrant smile, and the first time you met her and she flashed that smile, you were putty in her hands."
The daughter of Jose Santos Jr. and Azucena Aquino, Czarina Aquino Santos was born and raised in Manila, Philippines.
After graduating from Hope Christian High School in Manila, she earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Santo Tomas, also in Manila, in 1987. In 1991, she became a doctor of medicine and surgery upon her graduation from the University of Santo Tomas.
She completed a postgraduate internship at Santo Tomas University Hospital in Manila in 1992. Also in that year, she married Dr. Benedicto R. Borja, a classmate and psychiatrist.
The couple then came to the United States to complete their psychiatric residences, with Dr. Santos-Borja completing hers at Sheppard Pratt in 2000. She also completed a consultation liaison fellowship in 2001 at the University of Maryland.
From 2001 to 2005, Dr. Santos-Borja was a staff psychiatrist at the Wisconsin Resource Center in Appleton. In 2005, she was named associate medical director at Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick.
In 2006, she was appointed director of long-term care services at Sheppard Pratt, a position she held until 2008, when she entered private practice and established an office in the 200 block of W. Chesapeake Ave. in Towson.
Dr. Santos-Borja was named associate chair of the department of psychiatry at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in 2010, and two years later returned to Sheppard Pratt as director of geriatric services, where she was working at her death.
"She had an unusual level of intensity in everything she did. She was high-octane," said Dr. Roca. "She took the progress of her patients very much to heart. She fidgeted over them."
Ms. Katz had been a close friend of Dr. Santos-Borja for more than a decade.
"As a physician, Rina was exceptional, very skilled, and worked with our geriatric population and liked it very much," said Ms. Katz. "She was a very compassionate doctor and very thorough. She worked closely with families whose loved ones had dementia and helped them understand the process."
"When there were sudden changes in a patient's mental state, Rina helped their families adjust," said Dr. Sharfstein. "She had wonderful interpersonal skills and strength, and because of that incredible smile, especially in tense situations, she was good at getting those around her to relax."
Dr. Santos-Borja, a stylish but casual dresser, was also known for her ever-present high heels.
"She always moved very fast," said Ms. Katz.
"And you could hear those high heels clicking down the hallway before you ever saw her," said Dr. Roca with a laugh.
Dr. Sharfstein had been with Dr. Santos-Borja the day she was stricken.
"It was such a sudden end," he said. "We are really, really going to miss her."
Dr. Santos-Borja served on the President's Advisory Council at Maryvale Preparatory School in Lutherville, where her daughters had been students.
Music and singing were an essential component of her life, and when she was in medical school, she founded a glee club that she named the Singing Doctors. She also played piano and guitar.
She liked to dance, exercise and go to the movies. She also was an accomplished cook who liked to entertain family and friends.
"She also enjoyed drinking wine with family and friends," said a daughter, Chrysalis B. Borja of Perry Hall.
Dr. Santos-Borja was an active communicant of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Baltimore and Ware avenues, Towson, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Monday. At 3 p.m. Monday, there will be a memorial service in the Sheppard Pratt Conference Center, 6501 N. Charles St.
In addition to her husband, a psychiatrist at Sheppard Pratt, and daughter, Dr. Santos-Borja is survived by two other daughters, Cara B. Borja and Caroline B. Borja of Perry Hall; her parents, who live in Manila; two brothers, Andrew Santos and Joey Santos, both of Manila; and three sisters, Angel Mangaser of Fontana, Calif., Monette Gozon of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and Vilma Tungol of Wellington, New Zealand.