Mario Castro, MD, MPH

Mario Castro, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and of pediatrics, is recognized for his exemplary dedication to providing quality health care to medically underserved individuals suffering from lung diseases.

Castro, highly regarded as a pulmonary medicine physician and researcher, has worked to improve delivery of care to St. Louis’ most vulnerable community members. His activities include past partnerships with the region’s health care safety net organizations, participation in the School of Medicine’s Community Health and Population Science Strategic Planning process, programs to assist with smoking cessation, and current leadership in the Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS), where he co-directs the Center for Community-Engaged Research.

He has provided volunteer medical services to the St. Louis Latino community for years, first at La Clinica, and now at Casa de Salud. For the past 15 years, he has made annual trips to a hospital in Honduras to provide free consultations and medications, seeing more than 1,000 patients per visit. He also helps the hospital to obtain medical equipment, surgical materials and medications and to provide medical education to local physicians.

He has received many honors, including two awards from the American Lung Association of Eastern Missouri and the CHEST Foundation’s Humanitarian Recognition Award. As a leading clinician in his specialty, he has held leadership positions in several national organizations, is a frequent invited lecturer nationwide and has published more than 120 peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Castro received his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, completing the latter in 1988. He continued his medical training with an internal medicine residency and pulmonary care fellowship at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine and then joined the Washington University faculty in 1994. He completed a master’s in public health at Saint Louis University in 1998.