2024 Alumni Achievement Award
Philip Castle is a world-renowned, transformative leader in cancer epidemiology, research, and prevention. As the director of the Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) and senior tenured investigator in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), he focuses his research on epidemiology of the human papillomaviruses (HPV) and cervical/anogenital cancers, science and translation of cancer prevention strategies, cancer screening, international health, health services research and evidence-based medicine.
Philip graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences and went on to earn a doctorate in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University. He began his career as a cancer prevention fellow at DCP/NCI while pursuing a master of Public Health in epidemiology at Johns Hopkins. He later served as a senior, tenured investigator and tenure-track investigator at DCEG/NCI, professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and chief scientific officer of the American Society for Clinical Pathology. Over the course of his career, he has conducted cancer screenings and treatment research and activities in more than a dozen countries on six continents.
Beyond his work at DCP/NCI, Philip regularly participates in the development of national and international guidelines for cervical cancer prevention and has served as an advisor to several ministries of health. He has published more than 500 papers on HPV and cervical and anogenital cancers and contributed articles to the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, British Medical Journal, and Cancer Research, among others. His seminal publication in the New England Journal of Medicine on the need for an Essential Diagnostics List led to the World Health Organization establishing the list.
For his contributions to science and public health, Philip has received numerous accolades including a EUROGIN Distinguished Service Award; an NIH Merit Award; the Arthur S. Flemming Award for Exceptional Achievement in Federal Government Service for Applied Science, Engineering and Mathematics; and NCI’s Director’s Award for Outstanding Leadership of the Division of Cancer Prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am humbled and honored to be recognized with a 2024 Alumni Achievement Award from CMU. I am especially thankful to share this moment with CMU Professor Fred Lanni, who was my first mentor and gave me my first opportunity to dabble in his laboratory 40 years ago.
Philip E. Castle (MCS 1986)