Daniel Soto

Assistant Professor Of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences

Director of the Bachelor of Science Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HP) & Global Health (GH) Programs

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Overview

Daniel W. Soto, Ed.D, MPH, is an assistant professor at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine. He directs the Center for Population Health (CPH). He has over 20 years of population-based health behavior research experience and seven years of curriculum design and teaching experience with graduate and undergraduate programs in public health. Dr. Soto has led research and evaluation efforts on several longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of acculturation, mental health, diabetes prevention, substance use, addressing health disparities, preventing the spread of infectious disease, and tobacco control. Most recently, Dr. Soto led a team of 20+ graduate students to work on preventing the spread of COVID-19 in K-12 schools in Los Angeles County. He has established effective community engagement, recruitment, and retention methods for populations across the United States. Additionally, Dr. Soto has published over 100 manuscripts on acculturation, cultural stress, nicotine addiction, and substance use prevention in adolescents and young adults.

Awards

  • University of Southern California, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences: Digital Education Innovator Award, 2023
     – 2024
  • University of Southern California, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences: Chair’s Citation on Pedagogical Excellence Award, 2024
     – 2025

Education and Training

  • University of California Davis, Davis, CA — BA — 06/2001 — Sociology/Native American Studies
  • University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA — MPH — 06/2010 — Public Health/Biostatistics
  • University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA — EdD — 05/2023 — Educational Psychology

Publications

  • Cultural stress, parent-adolescent communication, and depressive symptoms: Longitudinal dyadic study among recently immigrated Hispanic families. J Fam Psychol. 2026 Mar; 40(2):252-263.. View in PubMed
  • Prospective associations of COVID-related stress with vaping nicotine and cannabis among high school students: Mediated by vaping susceptibility. PLoS One. 2025; 20(10):e0334159.. View in PubMed
  • Validating the satisfaction with life scale among early adolescents: psychometric assessment using item response theory. Curr Psychol. 2025; 44(7):5821-5829.. View in PubMed
  • Peer E-Cigarette and Cannabis Use and Adolescent Anxiety: Findings from a Mixed-Methods Study. Subst Use Misuse. 2025; 60(5):648-658.. View in PubMed
  • Change in depression and anxiety symptoms among university students, staff, and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic: Trojan pandemic response initiative. J Am Coll Health. 2025 04; 73(4):1787-1797.. View in PubMed
  • Vaping Devices with Video Games. Subst Use Misuse. 2024; 59(14):2149-2150.. View in PubMed
  • Disentangling the directionality among cultural stressors and psychosocial outcomes in recently immigrated Hispanic families: A random intercept cross-lagged panel model approach. J Res Adolesc. 2024 Dec; 34(4):1517-1528.. View in PubMed
  • The differential impacts of COVID-19 mortality on mental health by residential geographic regions: The Los Angeles Pandemic Surveillance Cohort Study. PLoS One. 2024; 19(7):e0304779.. View in PubMed
  • Spanish-Language Tobacco-Related Posts on Twitter: Content Analysis. Nicotine Tob Res. 2024 05 22; 26(6):759-763.. View in PubMed
  • Young Adults’ Exposure to and Engagement With Tobacco-Related Social Media Content and Subsequent Tobacco Use. Nicotine Tob Res. 2024 Feb 15; 26(Supplement_1):S3-S12.. View in PubMed