Dr. Sylk Sotto is an internationally recognized scholar and senior academic leader whose work sits at the intersections of faculty affairs and development, leadership, and institutional transformation. With more than 25 years of experience in academic medicine, she brings executive leadership, rigorous scholarship, evidence-based practice and advocacy to the most consequential challenges facing the field today.
As associate vice chancellor for faculty affairs, health sciences, and associate professor of medicine, School of Medicine, Dr. Sotto leads faculty affairs and faculty development as integrated and mutually reinforcing pillars of institutional excellence. Applying a systems-level perspective, she drives change across the full faculty lifecycle—designing policies and practices that are equity-centered, mission-aligned and human-centered. Her leadership cultivates environments where faculty thrive with integrity, leadership is met with ethical courage and inclusion is an imperative.
As an administrator-practitioner-scholar, Dr. Sotto approaches teaching and research by integrating clinical and research ethics, health equity, medical humanities and culturally responsive care—examining how ethical frameworks and equitable practices shape the full continuum of medical education and faculty development. Her scholarship prepares leaders to navigate the ethical, cultural and structural realities of contemporary academic medicine with rigor and purpose. Affiliated with Pitt Health Sciences’ Institute for Bioethics and holding a secondary appointment in the School of Education, she brings an interdisciplinary depth that distinguishes her contributions to the field.
Dr. Sotto previously served at Indiana University as vice chair in the Department of Medicine and at Indiana University’s Center for Bioethics and its CTSI as chief health equity and diversity officer, codirector of workforce development and director of All IN for Health, a statewide health research promotion and volunteer registry initiative. She has served as president of the Administrators of Internal Medicine, on the board of directors of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine and is active with the Association of American Medical Colleges and other key professional societies.
A native of Puerto Rico, she brings lived experience and unwavering purpose to her leadership.
