Andrew Armstrong, MD, ScM
Duke University - Durham, North Carolina

Dr. Armstrong began his studies at Duke University, in the School of Engineering, where he received his bachelor degree in biomedical engineering. During his undergraduate studies, he found himself in a time of transition that would ultimately prompt him to switch focuses from studying electrical and mechanical workings of circuits to the sufferings of human beings.

Dr. Armstrong’s motivation to go into medicine also included his own family’s encounter with cancer, strong mentors along the way, and a desire to work directly in the area of longitudinal patient care. He attended the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where he received his MD followed by internship/residency at the University of Pennsylvania.  He would go on to complete a medical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins - finally receiving a master’s degree in clinical investigation at the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Armstrong was first exposed to prostate cancer research while at the University of Virginia. It was then that he realized the limitations in our understanding of how prostate cancer spreads in the body and becomes lethal. This triggered his desire to reduce these barriers and improve treatment options for men with prostate cancer. He felt that there was a need to accelerate research in the area of prostate cancer to provide a better understanding of the disease, while maintaining his goal to “bridge the divide between basic and correlative hypothesis-driven science and the needs and goals of the human being with cancer.”

Throughout his studies, Dr. Armstrong has received several awards. In addition to his PCF Young Investigator Award, he was also given the American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award, an NIH K12 Award through the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a Clinical/Tanslational Research Fellowship from the American Association for Cancer Research. His work has been published in 12 journals, and has also appeared in the chapters of six books and multiple scientific reviews.

Dr. Armstrong is married to a pediatrician, with whom he has an infant, and two other children ages three and six. He enjoys spending time with his children at home, the excitement of Duke basketball, hiking, camping, and as he says, “trying to stay one step ahead of my mentors, Drs. Daniel George, Mariano Garcia-Blanco, and Phillip Febbo.”

Although Dr. Armstrong’s home and career are equally busy, he continues to maintain his goal of making a positive impact on the outcomes for those diagnosed with prostate cancer. Aside from his personal activities, he continues to find time to act as either the principal or co-investigator of 11 current cancer research studies. He is also involved in many academic and administrative activities at Duke University and the Duke University Medical Center.