Butch de Castro, PhD, MSN/MPH, RN, FAAN (he/him)

About Dean Butch de Castro

Butch de Castro, PhD, MSN/MPH, RN, FAAN, is a Professor and Dean of the College of Nursing at Seattle University where he holds the Robert J. and Mary H. Bertch Endowed Professorship in Nursing Leadership. As a researcher, Dr. de Castro utilizes community-engagement approaches to examine how employment circumstances, job conditions, and work organization factors contribute to chronic stress and risk for work-related injury and illness among immigrants and populations of color. As an educator, he teaches from a health equity and social determinants framework, employs problem-based learning methods, and incorporates service-learning projects. His external service has spanned being on the King County Board of Health; journal editorial boards for Workplace Safety and Health, and Public Health Nursing; the American Academy of Nursing’s Diversity and Inclusivity Committee; and Washington State Nurses Association’s Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Committee.

Among his many recognitions, he has been honored for excellence in education, research, practice, and policy arenas having received the Washington State Nurses Association’s Research Award and Marguerite Cobb Public Health/Community Health Nurse Award, the University of Washington’s Dr. C. June Strickland Distinguished Diversity & Transcultural Nursing Advocate Award, the Washington Secretary of State’s Extra Mile Award, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Award of Excellence for Public Health Training, and been inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Immediately before coming to Seattle University, Dr. de Castro spent 17 years as a professor and director of the occupational and environmental health nursing training program at the University of Washington School of Nursing, including 6 years as its inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.  Prior to his academic career, he practiced as an operating room nurse, a home health nurse, and a public health nurse for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. He also worked in the occupational health policy arena from both governmental and labor perspectives having respectively held posts with the U.S. Department of Labor - Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the American Nurses Association.

His academic preparation includes receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, a joint Master of Science in Nursing/Master of Public Health degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Environmental Health both from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and a post-doctoral research fellowship in public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.