Nichmarie Soto Bonilla, PhD

Dr. Soto Bonilla is from the town of Isabela, Puerto Rico and completed her doctorate degree in clinical psychology at Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU) in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Her pre-doctoral internship was at Hospital del Maestro which is part of the PHSU Internship Consortium and APA accredited. She completed her post doctorate fellowship at the University of Kansas Medical Center-Cancer Center in Health Psychology with emphasis in Onco-Psychology. She currently works at Kansas City University (KCU) as an assistant professor and teaches the courses of history & systems, development of racial and ethnic identity, health psychology and CBT. Dr. Soto Bonilla’s clinical interests within her profession are working with people with depression, anxiety, chronic and non-chronic health issues, and a special interest in individuals diagnosed with cancer and their families. Her research interests are related to health psychology with a focus women’s health, chronic pain, oncology, Latinx population, among others.  

In May of 2024, alongside her colleague Dr. Barreca, the PATH (Psychological Advancement Towards Health) lab was established at KCU. The goal of this research lab is to create projects exploring various topics under health psychology. Current projects are focused on chronic pain in the Latinx population, women's health, and coping with chronic disease. The lab provides research opportunities to PsyD students that can lead to dissertations, presentations at conferences and contributions to the field and scientific community.