Roles
Professor, Pediatrics & Psychology
Special Senior Advisor to the Chair, Pediatrics
Director, Mailman Center for Child Development
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Biography
Dr. Armstrong received his Ph.D. in clinical/clinical child psychology at West Virginia University in 1985 following completion of a clinical internship in pediatric psychology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He joined the faculty of the University of Miami in 1985, and in 1999 was named Director of the Mailman Center for Child Development, the University of Miami’s second center and only center with federal statutory designation. Over the past 37 years he has served in multiple senior clinical, research, educational (LCME, GME, graduate, and research training), and administrative leadership roles in the Department of Pediatrics and Miller School of Medicine, and was the Senior Vice President/CEO for the Holtz Women’s and Children’s Hospital for two years. He served as interim Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs from 2014-2019, and Senior Associate Dean for Child Health for the Miller School of Medicine from 2019-2021.
Throughout his career, Dr. Armstrong’s research has focused on describing neurodevelopmental outcomes of treatment of childhood cancer, sickle cell disease, and HIV/AIDS, understanding the mechanisms associated with these outcomes, and conducting clinical trials of interventions (behavioral, biological, and pharmacological) with children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and chronic illnesses. Most of his research has involved interdisciplinary and multi-center collaboration. Trained as a behavioral scientist, he has also established strong collaborations with basic, discovery, and clinical scientists on translational research questions. He has served as part of the scientific leadership of a number of NCI and NHLBI multi-center clinical research trials, as chair of the NHLBI’s Congressionally-mandated Sickle Cell Disease Advisory Committee, Chair of the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Committees for both the Pediatric Oncology Group and Children’s Oncology Group, was a member of the NCI PDQ Supportive Care Editorial Board, PI of a 5-year Dyson Community Pediatrics Training Initiative grant, and PI of a K30 that led to the establishment of a Masters of Science in Clinical and Translational Investigation at UM. Dr. Armstrong has served as a consultant to multiple federal agencies, including several institutes of the NIH, FDA, HRSA/MCHB, IOM/NAS, and the Executive Office of the White House. With more than 115 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, he is author or contributing author of more than 15 policy statements for the American Academy of Pediatrics and other leading national organizations. Dr. Armstrong represents the American Cancer Society on the Florida Biomedical Research Advisory Council (BRAC; Florida Department of Health), where he has served as Chair since 2013. In this role, he led the development of the state strategic research plan for cancer and tobacco-related diseases and oversees the annual state grant programs ($20M-$30M per year) and the prior $25M research program on the Zika virus.
Dr. Armstrong has long been actively involved in leadership of national, state, and local organizations related to developmental disability and chronic illness, including the American Cancer Society, Inc., where he served as Chair of the Florida Division Board of Directors and subsequently on the National ACS Board of Directors. He was the recipient of the 2005 Micah Batchelor Award for Excellence in Child Health Research, and the American Cancer Society Lane Adams Quality of Life Award (2009) and St. George Award (2015). For more than 20 years, he has been active in governmental public policy and appropriations related to child health and funding for cancer research at the state and federal levels, as well as philanthropy initiatives with major donors. He is the current President of the Association of University Centers on Disability, Co-Chair of the NCATS/CTSA Integration Across teh Lifepan Enterprise Committee, Vice-Chair of the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe, and past-president of the Florida Association of Children’s Hospitals. -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
Licensures and Certifications
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Honors & Awards
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Teaching Interests
Dr. Armstrong has been a classroom teacher at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate level, a mentor for masters and doctoral candidates, invited lecturer, mentor for junior and mid-level faculty, and was the founding director of the the UM Masters of Clinical and Translational Science Investigation program. His current interest is focused on mentorship of faculty. -
Research Interests
Neurocognitive outcomes, mechanisms associated with neurocognitive outcomes, and interventions for neurocognitive impairments in cancer, sickle cell disease, and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. -
Publications
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Professional Activities
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