Yuliana Soto, PhD, MS
Premier T32 Fellow
Department of Medicine, Division of Academic Internal Medicine and Geriatrics
About
Dr. Yuliana Soto earned her PhD in Health and Kinesiology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on culturally tailored, mindfulness-based physical activity interventions to promote health equity among underserved youth and older adults. During her doctoral training, she developed and evaluated RESPIRA+, a mindful movement program integrating yoga, mindfulness, and social support to improve physical activity and self-regulation among Latina adolescents. Currently, as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the PREMIER T32 Precision Lifestyle Medicine and Translation Research Program at the University of Illinois Chicago, Dr. Soto is advancing this work through mechanistic studies using neuroimaging methods (e.g., fNIRS, fMRI) to examine cognitive and emotional self-regulation as pathways linking mindful movement to mental and physical health outcomes.
Research Project
Disentangling Cognitive and Emotional Self-Regulation Mechanisms Among Adolescents: A Pilot Mechanistic Study of the RESPIRA+ Mindful Movement Program (Marquez: PI; Soto: Co-PI). This study investigates how a culturally tailored mindful movement intervention activates distinct cognitive and emotional self-regulation pathways to enhance physical activity and mental well-being among adolescent girls.
Education
PhD - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
MS - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
BS - University of Illinois Chicago, San Bernardino