Amanda D. Castel, MD,MPHAmanda D. Castel is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Co-Director of the Department's practicum for MPH students and co-director of the Field/Laboratory Experience for the MSPHMEID program. 
Dr. Castel's first exposure to HIV/AIDS was as a college student, when she traveled independently to Uganda, established relationships with local hospitals and providers working on HIV/AIDS and designed her own research project. In the years since, she has demonstrated the same singular focus and commitment as a U.S. Fulbright Fellow in Senegal; a member of the ACTG Pediatric HIV Team in Harlem Hospital; and a volunteer physician in Kenya. Drawing on her background in infectious diseases and international health, Dr. Castel joined SPHHS in August 2006 to collaborate with the DC Department of Health's HIV/AIDS Administration on the Public Health-Academic Partnership. Her focus is on providing technical and epidemiologic expertise to the HIV/AIDS surveillance program. Dr. Castel has also served as a co-PI on a project to evaluate the District's routine HIV testing initiative. Previously, Dr. Castel was a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer, assigned to the Office of Epidemiology and Disease Control Programs at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She also completed a preventive medicine residency at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, during which she trained and supervised incoming EIS officers.and worked on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). EducationBachelor of Arts (Biology), Brown University, 1995 TeachingPubH 209 - HIV/AIDS Surveillance ResearchDr. Castel's research interests center on infectious diseases, including vaccine-preventable diseases and HIV/AIDS, and on international health. As an EIS officer, she has investigated numerous communicable disease outbreaks and researched meningococcal disease among college students. In the international arena, Dr. Castel has conducted research on pediatric HIV/AIDS prevention and has monitored polio eradication campaigns. Since joining the faculty at GWU, Dr. Castel has also worked on developing the framework for the development of the World Health Organization regulatory guidelines regarding task-shifting. Through the Department's partnership with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, she has lead the evaluation of the organization's PEPFAR funded care and treatment in three African countries. Through her membership in the GWU HIV/AIDS Institute Dr. Castel is collaborating with other institute colleagues to conduct a study examining barriers to care among HIV infected hospitalized patients at the George Washington University Hospital. She currently co-directs the Department's practicum and culminating experience courses for MPH students and co-directs the Field/Laboratory Experience for the MSPHMEID program. Community ServiceBoard-certified in general pediatrics, Dr. Castel spent a year as a volunteer attending physician at the outpatient pediatric clinic at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. She was also chair and co-founder of the Multicultural Physician's Association and co-director of the International Health Interest Group, both at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where she completed her pediatric residency. Dr. Castel currently volunteers as a physician at Children's National Medical Center in the Special Immunology Clinic of the Infectious Disease Department. DepartmentsPublications |
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