Mario Castro, M.D., MPH

Dr. Castro is the Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine; Vice-Chair for Clinical and Translational Research; and Director of Rainbow Clinical and Translational Science Unit, Frontiers at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

Prior to this, he was the Alan A. and Edith L. Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, professor of medicine, pediatrics and radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri and served as an adjunct associate professor of community health at the St. Louis University School of Public Health.

As a volunteer with the Lung Association since 1994, Dr. Castro has served as president of the board for American Lung Association in Missouri and American Lung Association of the Plains-Gulf Region. He has also served as a member of the Lung Association's National Board of Directors. Castro has been a member of the Lung Association's Scientific Advisory Committee since 2003 and is currently a member of the Lung Association's Scientific and Medical Editorial Review Panel.

He serves as the principal investigator for the Kansas City site of the American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Centers (ACRC) and Chairs the Protocol Committee for ACRC. He is studying what makes severe asthma different from milder forms in the Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP). He is also studying potentially new treatments and biomarkers for severe asthma in the Precision Interventions for Severe and Exacerbation-prone asthma (PrecISE) study. Lastly, he is using new imaging techniques, such as CT and hyperpolarized gas MRI, to study how the lung remodels in asthma and as a potential target for treatment.

In addition to his work with the American Lung Association, Dr. Castro serves on the board of the International Medical Assistance Foundation, and as an abstract reviewer for the American Thoracic Society. He also served on the National Asthma Educator Certification Board from 2000-2005.

Dr. Castro received his medical degree from the University of Missouri in 1988 and his master's degree in public health from the St. Louis University School of Public Health in 1998.

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