Dr. Soto holds a PhD in Clinical/Community Psychology from DePaul University and an MPH in Public Health from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He currently is an Independent Consultant. As a consultant, he served as lead evaluator for an HIV Telemedicine Project based in Montgomery, Alabama and for a Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) HIV Substance Abuse Treatment Expansion grant for GMHC in New York City. He has also provided program development and evaluation consultation services to several grassroots HIV/AIDS, LGBT, and Latino based service organizations. Additionally, Dr. Soto has taught undergraduate courses in Research Methods, Addictions, and Psychology of Gender at both Loyola and DePaul Universities.
In addition to consulting, Dr. Soto served as Chief Operating Officer for Broward House, a comprehensive AIDS Service Organization based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Prior to moving to Florida, he was the founding Director of Research and Evaluation for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. He also worked at Cook County Hospital as the Director of Behavioral Sciences for the CORE center, an ambulatory facility for the prevention, care and research of infectious diseases at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, IL. He was instrumental in the development, expansion, and integration of mental health and substance abuse services for HIV patients accessing primary care services.
As a researcher, Dr. Soto was the principal investigator of a five-year federally funded research study evaluating the effectiveness of integrated mental health, substance abuse and primary care services on health outcomes, treatment adherence and costs. He also was Project Director for multiple federally funded mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness service expansion grants funded through SAMHSA and private foundations. He is published in the areas of HIV Integrated Care, HIV mental health, and program evaluation and has authored book chapters, and a manual targeting the mental health needs of gay and bisexual men of color.
