Butch de Castro
Dr. Butch de Castro’s contributions have transformed the practice, research, educational opportunities, and governing policies of nursing and workers in our state and beyond.
His work is guided by a social justice lens and the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to reach their full health potential. He was exposed to this calling at a young age, spending after-school hours waiting for his mom to finish her work as a nurse at a public health clinic in East L.A.
A few years out of nursing school, Dr. de Castro worked as a public health nurse in Los Angeles County where he came to understand how social determinants of health affects the health of individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities. This prompted him to further his education, so he could broaden his impact.
At the national level, Dr. de Castro worked as a health scientist within the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration advancing policy regulations to protect workers. He also worked for the American Nurses Association creating initiatives and advocating for safer working conditions for nurses and all healthcare workers.
During a research fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he developed his research on the adverse consequences of unfair, exploitive working conditions on the health and safety of immigrants and people of color.
He was then recruited to the University of Washington School of Nursing to direct its Occupational & Environmental Health Nursing Graduate Training Program. He also served as associate dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and co-director of the Research in Nursing & Global Health Training Program.
After 17 years at UW, Dr. de Castro became professor and dean of the Seattle University College of Nursing in 2023.
He served on the King County Board of Health during the pandemic, and as a member of the Washington Center for Nursing’s Diversity Advisory Committee, he led the development of a workshop to promote nursing education as a career among nurses with under-represented identities.
In 2016, Dr. de Castro was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, our profession’s highest honor.