Education

DrPH, 1996, Harvard School of Public Health

MD, 1990, UC San Francisco

MPH, 1989, UC Berkeley

BA, 1983, Stanford University

Research

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 etiology and management of these diseases in several large cohorts. In 1998, his team described a strong association between obesity and risk of developing asthma. In 2006, they described a strong inverse association between maternal intake of vitamin D during pregnancy and childhood wheezing. In 2007, they reported a north-south gradient in epinephrine autoinjector prescriptions and proposed an etiologic role for vitamin D. Subsequent randomized trials showed beneficial effects of vitamin D supplementation on winter-related atopic dermatitis (2008) and acute respiratory infections (2012) in children. These novel findings suggested new avenues for the prevention and management of several respiratory/allergy disorders.

Dr Camargo is the Conn Chair in Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He chairs the Steering Committee of the Emergency Medicine Network (EMNet), a clinical research network involving >220 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.

Selected Publications

Camargo CA Jr, Williams PT, Vranizan KM, Albers JJ, Wood PD. The effect of moderate alcohol consumption on serum apolipoproteins A-I and A-II: A controlled study. JAMA 1985; 253: 2854-2857. 3921727

Camargo CA Jr, Weiss ST, Zhang S, Willett WC, Speizer FE. Prospective study of body mass index, weight change, and risk of adult-onset asthma in women. Arch Int Med 1999; 159: 2582-2588. 10573048

Sullivan AF, Richman IB, Ahn CJ, Auerbach BS, Pallin DJ, Schafermeyer RW, Clark S, Camargo CA Jr. A profile of U.S. emergency departments in 2001. Ann Emerg Med 2006; 48: 694-701. 17067721



Camargo CA Jr, Clark S, Kaplan MS, Lieberman P, Wood RA. Regional differences in EpiPen prescriptions in the United States: The potential role of vitamin D. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2007; 120: 131-136.  17559916

Sidbury R, Sullivan AF, ThadhaniRI, Camargo CA Jr. Randomized controlled trial of vitamin D supplementation for winter-related atopic dermatitis in Boston: A pilot study. Br J Dermatol 2008; 159: 245-247. 18489598

Tsai C-L, Sullivan AF, Gordon JA, Kaushal R, Magid DJ, Blumenthal D, Camargo CA Jr. Quality of care for acute asthma in 63 US emergency departments. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2009; 123: 354-361. 19070357

Camargo CA Jr, Ingham T, Wickens K, Thadhani R, Silvers KM, Epton MJ, Town GI, Pattemore PK, Espinola JA, Crane J. Cord blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and risk of respiratory infection, wheezing, and asthma. Pediatrics 2011; 127: e180-e187. 21187313

Camargo CA Jr, Ganmaa D, Frazier AL, Kirchberg FF, Stuart JJ, Kleinman K, Sumberzul N, Rich-Edwards JW. Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation and acute respiratory infection in Mongolia. Pediatrics 2012; 130: e561-e567.  22908115