Dr. Joe De Santo, MD
Medical Director
Dr. Joe De Santo has over 25 years of experience in addiction medicine and joined South Coast Behavioral Health as the Medical Director in 2021. He oversees our medical staff and develops detox protocols to ensure the safety and comfort of patients. Dr. De Santo is board certified in both internal medicine and addiction medicine. He specializes in detox and has worked with several addiction treatment centers, holding various titles and treating thousands of patients in residential and acute levels of care. He has also worked in private practice since 2012.
Dr. De Santo’s own recovery journey and the doctors that cared for him in treatment led him to this work. He saw an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives who need a unique type of physician and treatment in the relatively new specialty of addiction medicine. The gratitude of his patients and knowing that their recovery helps the whole family begin healing from the disease of addiction is what he finds most rewarding about this work. In his free time, Joe De Santo enjoys traveling, spending time with family, hiking, golfing, biking, and practicing yoga and Transcendental Meditation. Sobriety is at the core of his life, and he protects it above all else. Dr. De Santo is an active participant in his 12-step community, sponsors other members, and attends meetings several times a week.