William Santoro, MD, FASAM
Candidate for Regional Director
Region IV - New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania
William Santoro, MD, FASAM did his Family Medicine Internship and Residency at the Reading Hospital and Medical Center, West Reading, PA. From 1985 until 2016 he had a private practice in Laureldale, PA which is now part of Tower Health Medical Group. He had been the Medical Director at Reading Hospital Drug and Alcohol Program for the Center of Mental Health from 1988 until its closing in August 2020. He has served as the Medical Director to New Directions Treatment Services, a methadone maintenance program from 1999 until 2021. He was the Associate Medical Director at the Caron Foundation from 1994 until 2002. In 2014, Dr. Santoro was appointed Chief, Section of Addiction Medicine, Reading Hospital Department of Family & Community Medicine, Tower Health System and since 2016 he has focused his practice exclusively on Addiction Medicine.
Dr. Santoro received the Berks County Medical Society Community Service Award in 1997; the Jasper G. Chen See Medical Professional Award for work in Addiction in 1997; the William J. Schofield III Award for work in Addiction in 2006; the Jacob Albright Award for Community Service in 2012; the Counsel on Chemical Abuse Professional Service Award in 2015; and the William Alexander Service Award in 2017. His community activities include starting the medical clinic within the Reading – Berks Emergency Shelter for the homeless. He was the founder and race director to the “To Reading and Back 10K” charity run for Easter Seals Society; co-founder and race co-director of the “Alligator Run 10K” charity run for Crime Alert of Berks County. He served as an Assistant coach to the Berks County Special Olympics track and softball teams. He also served as a volunteer medical director to the US Olympic Training Teams in Lake Placid New York. In his spare time he has completed 56 marathons.
Candidate Questionnaire Responses
1. What have been your greatest contributions to ASAM or to the field of addiction medicine over the last 10 years?
Long before it was considered the standard of care, I testified in court advocating for a patient incarcerated to continue to receive medication for opioid use disorder. I then went on to establish a pathway for incarcerated patients to receive either buprenorphine or methadone in the local jail system. This occurred in 2007. I also wrote a standing order for the single county authority in Berks County Pa. to obtain naloxone kits. On this model, Dr. Rachel Levine expanded the standing order for all persons in the state of Pennsylvania.
2. How would your election to the ASAM Board of Directors benefit ASAM and the field of addiction medicine?
I would continue my passion of reducing the stigma surrounding this diagnosis by working to update regulations and legislature concerning the diagnosis of substance use disorder. I believe that concrete steps need to be made to change the attitudes of providers and laypeople. We need to do more than talk about changes.