Álvaro Ernesto Castillo Carniglia, PhD

Dr. Alvaro Castillo-Carniglia is a Full Professor in the Department of Public Health at Universidad San Sebastián, Chile, and director of the Millennium Nucleus for the evaluation and analysis of Drug Policies (nDP). He was trained as a social anthropologist and then pursued a master’s in public health nutrition and a PhD in public health at the University of Chile, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in social and substance use epidemiology at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Castillo-Carniglia was previously the head of the Research Department at the National Service for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Drug and Alcohol Consumption (SENDA) in Chile and an associate professor at the Society and Health Research Center at Universidad Mayor

Dr. Castillo-Carniglia’s teaching experience includes under and post-graduate courses in public health, epidemiology, and research methods, with a focus on quasi-experimental methods and policy evaluation. He is or has been the adviser/mentor of nine master and five PhD students and two postdoctoral fellows.

Dr. Castillo-Carniglia’s research interests are in the intersection of substance abuse, mental health, and public policy. His research includes a broad spectrum of topics, including measuring and describing the epidemiology of substance use in Chile and abroad (e.g., Latin America, the US), as well as understanding its causes and consequences at the population level, with particular interest in its social determinants. Dr. Castillo-Carniglia specializes in survey methodology, policy evaluation, and the use of quasi-experimental methods in general. His projects evaluate population-level strategies to prevent (FONDECYT regular N°1240138; DRIPRES grant N°DIPR230002) and treat substance use and related consequences (FONDECYT regular N°1191282; NCS2021_003).