Prof. Carlo Castoro is Director of the Upper GI Surgery Unit at Humanitas Research Hospital in Milan, Italy, and a Full Professor of Surgery at Humanitas University in Milan. He completed his medical education at the University of Padova School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. License Certification cum laude in 1983. He then pursued a residency in General Surgery from 1983 to 1988 at the same institution. In 1988, he received his General Board Certification in General Surgery cum laude and, in 1992, his General Board Certification in Thoracic Surgery cum laude, both from the University of Padova.
Carlo Castoro began his clinical career as a resident in General Surgery at the University of Padova from 1983 to 1988, followed by a tenure as a staff surgeon in the Department of Surgery at the University of Padova from 1989 to 2006. From 2007 to 2017, he served as the Esophageal and Digestive Surgery Unit Director at the Veneto Institute of Oncology in Padova, Italy. He also directed the Regional Referral Centre for Esophageal Cancer in the Veneto Region from 2014 to 2017. In 2017, he became an Associate Professor of Surgery at Humanitas University in Milan, later advancing to Full Professor in October 2021.
Throughout his career, Carlo Castoro has authored 180 indexed full papers on Scopus and edited a book on Lichtenstein Hernia Repair in 1998. He also edited the Policy Brief âDay Surgery Making it Happenâ published in 2007 and serves as an Associate Editor of Diseases of the Esophagus journal.
His research interests include thoracic and abdominal surgery, with a particular focus on Esophageal diseases, cancer surgery, and multimodal treatments. He is also interested in day surgery, the reorganization of surgical services, and medical education, especially new technologies and distance learning.
Carlo Castoro is an active member of several professional organizations, including the European Surgical Association (ESA), Societa’ Italiana di Chirurgia (S.I.C.), European Society for Diseases of the Esophagus (ESDE), International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus (ISDE), and the European Association of Endoscopic Surgery (EAES). He has held leadership roles in the International Association for Ambulatory Surgery (IAAS), serving as President from 2011 to 2013 and as a member of the Executive Committee since 2009. Since 2015, he has been an honorary advisor for the China Ambulatory Surgery Alliance (CASA) â China Health Development Research Centre (CNHDRC).
He has been involved in several significant research projects, including serving as the scientific head and coordinator of the SkyMed distance learning project from 2001 to 2005, which was financed by the European Space Agency. He also collaborated on the DSDP (Day Surgery Data Project) and DAYSAFE (Improving Patient Safety through Day Surgery) projects. From 2012 to 2014, he was the principal investigator for research grants from the Veneto Region Health Authority and the Berlucchi Foundation for Cancer Research, focusing on immuno-surveillance in colic and Esophageal carcinogenesis and the quality of life after esophagectomy for cancer, respectively.
Throughout his career, Carlo Castoro has received several awards, including a scholarship for research in Esophageal cancer from the University of Padova in 1986 and a scholarship for clinical research from the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) from 1987 to 1989.