Bio: Dr. Philip Castle
On January 1, 2011, Dr. Philip Castle became the first Executive Director of the American
Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Institute. Previously, he was a Senior, Tenured
Investigator (2010-11) and Tenure-Track Investigator (2003-10) in the Division of Cancer
Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI). He received his
Ph.D. in Biophysics in 1995 and M.P.H. in Epidemiology in 2000 from the Johns Hopkins
University. Dr. Castle did a post-doctoral fellowship at the NIH on the molecular biology of the
zona pellucida from 1995-1999, and was a Cancer Prevention Fellow at NCI from 2000-2003.
Dr. Castle’s professional interests are (1) epidemiology of human papillomaviruses (HPV) and
cervical/anogenital cancer; (2) science and translation of cancer prevention strategies; (3)
evidence-based medicine; and (4) international health. At ASCP, Dr. Castle will be leading two
programs, the Center for Health Services Research and for Global Outreach. Dr. Castle will be
leading the ASCP in delivering new laboratory technologies, including low-cost HPV testing for
cervical cancer screening, to underserved populations using the President's Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) clinics and clinical labs. While at the NCI, he is the lead investigator on
several epidemiologic studies, including the Mississippi Delta Project, The HPV Persistence and
Progression Cohort at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, the Anal Cancer Screening Study,
and the Low-Cost Molecular Cervical Cancer Screening Study in China.
Dr. Castle has published over 200 papers on HPV and cervical cancer in medical journals;
including articles in the prestigious journals, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Lancet
Oncology, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, British Medical Journal, and Cancer
Research. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Infectious Diseases and
Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease. He has served as an invited speaker or session chair in
many forums, including the American Association for Cancer Research, International
Papillomavirus Society, and the European Union on Genital Infection and Neoplasia
(EUROGIN).
Dr. Castle serves as a technical advisor on many national and international committees for the
prevention of cervical cancer, including 1) Founding member of the American Society for
Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) Practice Improvement in Cervical Cancer
Screening and Management (PICSM) Committee, and a Steering Committee Member and
Evidence Review Data Committee Co-Chair, ACS/ASCCP Symposium on Cervical Cancer
Screening and Prevention: The Role of Molecular Testing; 2) Member of the Senior Advisory
Group for the evaluation and impact of screening and treatment approaches for the prevention of
cervical neoplasia in HIV-positive women in Burkina Faso and South Africa: HPV in Africa
Research Partnership; 3) Advisor and technical consultant for the development of cervical cancer
prevention programs in Rwanda, Zambia, Botswana, Senegal, and El Salvador; and 4) Co-
investigator for a randomized controlled trial of primary HPV testing for cervical cancer
screening in Australia. Dr. Castle also serves as a member of the Union for International Cancer
Control’s Cervical Cancer Initiative Advisory Group. He routinely advises/consults for many
health organizations, including the World Health Organization, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2006, Dr. Castle received the EUROGIN Distinguished Service Award, in 2007, the NIH
Merit Award for his leadership in guiding the translation of human papillomavirus testing into
cervical cancer screening for low-resource regions of the United States, and in 2010 he was
awarded the highest honour of the ASCCP, the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award.