Our Faculty

Charles DiMaggio, PhD,is an injury epidemiologist whose NIH and CDC-funded work includes describing and analyzing the epidemiology of pediatric pedestrian injuries for the New York City Department of Transportation, establishing a surveillance program to track and explain the behavioral health effects of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 in New York, and investigating the developmental and behavioral effects of anesthesia on young children. He has an active interest in the application of epidemiological approaches like Bayesian and spatial models to large data sets, and teaches introductory and advanced methods using the SAS and R programming languages. Dr. DiMaggio's previous positions include chief research scientist with the Nassau County, New York, Department of Health where he worked on a variety of projects including bioterrorism preparedness, syndromic surveillance, and health disparities, and as chief physician assistant and director of research for the emergency department at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine at Elmhurst Hospital Center in New York.

PhD, Columbia University, 2002

MPH, Columbia University, 1993

BS, St. John's University, 1984

Mailman School Affiliations:

• National Center for Disaster Preparedness  Affiliated Faculty

University Affiliations:

• Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention
• University Seminar on Injury Control
• Institute for Data Science and Engineering

Additional Affiliations:

• Fellow, American College of Epidemiology
• Member, American Public Health Association
• Member, John Snow Society

• American Society of Anesthesiologists Top 10 Best Papers, 2010
• Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Top 25 Articles of 2006
• William Farr Award in Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Pubic Health, 2002

Selected Editorial Boards

• Editorial Board Member, American Journal of Disaster Medicine
• Peer Reviewer: American Journal of Epidemiology, Annals of Epidemiology, Journal of Disaster Medicine, Injury, Pediatrics, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, Critical Care, Journal of Urban Health, Biosecurity

Safe Routes to School National Evaluation
Project URL: http://www.cuinjuryresearch.org/index.php/research/
Pedestrian injury continues to rank among the most important causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. In 2005 the US Congress allocated $612 million for a national Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program to encourage walking and bicycling to schools. While a number of studies have looked at programmatic aspects of SRTS programs and evaluated their impact on children?s physical activity, little is known about the effectiveness of SRTS programs in reducing pedestrian injury risk in school-age children. Building on a prior study of SRTS in New York City, CIEPAC investigators Drs. Charles DiMaggio, Guohua Li and Peter Muennig will evaluate national SRTS efforts to see if they decrease the risk of injury occurrence and severity, and whether SRTS is a cost-effective and worthwhile investment to prevent pediatric pedestrian injury. The evaluation of this large-scale national injury control and prevention initiative will result in the wider dissemination of the best available evidence on cost-effective changes to the built environment to prevent child pedestrian injuries, and the translation of a set of epidemiological tools that communities can use to evaluate their own efforts. The study is responsive to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) research priority of preventing motor vehicle injuries and is consistent with NCIPC criteria of addressing severe, high-cost injuries for which potential solutions are available.

Disaster and Emergency Preparedness
Project URL: http://www.columbia.edu/~cjd11/charles_dimaggio/DIRE/styled/
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York City Dr. DiMaggio was co-principal investigator of a Health Resources and Services Administration project to develop disaster-preparedness curriculum for the Columbia University Health Sciences Campus, directed a CDC project to provide academic resources available to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and was principal investigator of a federal K01-funded project to investigate the population-level behavioral health effects of terrorism and disasters.

Effects of Childhood Anesthesia Exposure
Project URL: http://www.kidspandastudy.org/index.html
Co-investigator in an FDA and NIH funded effort to assess the possible behavioral and developmental effects of early anesthesia exposure in young children.

Disaster Preparedness Project URL: http://www.columbia.edu/~cjd11/charles_dimaggio/DIRE/styled/

Lectured to international audiences, including the China CDC on topics related to the public health aspects of disaster preparedness.

Countries: China

International Centers for Excellence in Malaria Research Project URL: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/labsandresources/resources/icemr/Pages/programOverview.aspx

Serves as scientific advisory group member for NIH-funded malaria research centers in Uganda and India.

Countries: India; Uganda