Carmen Castro, DrPH, MS, CHES

Carmen Castro is a Health Education Specialist in the Decision Support Laboratory in the Department of Health Services Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.  In her current position, she works to assess, plan, implement and evaluate decision support tools for patients, caregivers and clinicians. She is currently working on a project that assesses the impact of COVID-19 on cancer screening practices in primary care. Prior to this, Dr. Castro worked as a Community Health Education Specialist at clinics associated with the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, where she served on an integrated care team assessing the needs of the community and individual patients in order to implement wellness interventions designed to meet the needs of the clinics’ patients and those of their caregivers.

As a 2017-2018 Health and Aging Policy Fellow, Dr. Castro worked on health policy (with a focus on public health policy and legislation) in the office of Congressman Gene Green, Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. In addition, she worked at the National Institute on Aging, where she focused on cognitive aging.

A graduate of Texas A&M University – College Station, she completed her BA in Psychology and Spanish before going on to UTMB in Galveston to complete her MS in Health Education and Promotion.  In December of 2016, she attained her DrPH from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center Houston School of Public Health.