Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School* Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital* Channing Laboratory/Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

In 1982, while an undergraduate, Dr Camargo started the first of several studies on the health effects of moderate alcohol consumption. The focus of this research, including his doctoral thesis at Harvard School of Public Health, was the relation between moderate drinking and cardiovascular disease. Dr Camargo’s expertise in nutritional epidemiology led to his service on the 2005 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

Since 1996, Dr Camargo’s primary area of research has been respiratory/allergy diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and food allergy. He is studying the causes of asthma and COPD in several large national cohorts. In 1998, his team described a strong association between obesity and risk of developing asthma. In 2007, his team described a strong inverse association between maternal intake of vitamin D during pregnancy and childhood wheezing. These novel findings suggests new avenues for asthma prevention and treatment.

Dr Camargo works clinically as an emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He chairs the Steering Committee of the Emergency Medicine Network (EMNet), a clinical research network involving >200 emergency departments. He founded the network in 1996 and, to date, the group has completed numerous observational studies and randomized trials. Most of these studies focus on respiratory/allergy emergencies, health policy issues in emergency care, and mental health (e.g., suicide prevention). As Director of the EMNet Coordinating Center at MGH, he is actively involved in all of these multicenter projects.

Dr Camargo is past president of the American College of Epidemiology. He also has served on many national committees related to nutrition, respiratory/allergy diseases, emergency medicine, and public health.

DrPH, 1996, Harvard School of Public Health
MD, 1990, UC San Francisco
MPH, 1989, UC Berkeley
BA, 1983, Stanford University