Scott Armstrong named Senior Vice President for Drug Discovery and Chief Research Strategy Officer at Dana-Farber

Newly created roles focus on research strategy and therapeutic discovery

Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, has been named senior vice president for drug discovery and chief research strategy officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In this new role, he will lead Dana-Farber's institutional research strategy with an initial focus on therapeutic discovery work.

Armstrong will continue in his current role as chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology until a successor is named.

Armstrong is a leader in the fields of epigenetics research and drug discovery. His innovative research has helped guide the discovery and development of small molecules that target chromatin complexes and gene expression in cancer. It is likely that this year, the FDA will approve the first of these drugs for the treatment of adults and children with common subtypes of aggressive acute myelogenous leukemias. This is particularly notable as it is possibly one of the first of a wave of new drugs targeting epigenetics in multiple cancers.

"Scott Armstrong's outstanding research has already helped treat patients with cancer. His experience will help further Dana-Farber's mission to disseminate innovative patient therapies and scientific discoveries around the world and reduce the impact of cancer, and we will greatly benefit from his leadership and expertise. He is uniquely well-suited for these new roles at this pivotal time," said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, president and CEO, Dana-Farber.

Armstrong's work is widely respected and he has been recognized with many awards, including election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

He has led the Department of Pediatric Oncology through an 8-year period of significant growth and change, including during the pandemic. He has overseen recruitment of multiple new faculty members focused on clinical care, clinical research, and lab-based investigation. He has led the transition of leadership roles for each clinical program and helped develop many new research, clinical, and training initiatives.

Armstrong became president of Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center in 2019 and has been chairman of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute since 2016. He also serves as Associate Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Boston Children's Hospital.

He was previously director of the Center for Epigenetics Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and professor of pediatrics at the Weill Cornell Medical College.

Armstrong earned his medical degree and his PhD from University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1996. After internship and residency training with the Boston Combined Residency Program (BCRP) at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital, he completed a hematology/oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

The major focus of his career has been on delineating the biology of childhood cancers and the development of new therapeutic approaches for children with cancer. His research program has focused on the mechanisms of leukemia development and the relationship between leukemia and normal hematopoietic stem cells.

Armstrong has mentored numerous faculty through every stage of career development.