Saro Armenian

Saro Armenian

Pediatric Hematologist, Pediatric Oncologist

Hematology Oncology

City of Hope

Location USA, Duarte

Linkedin

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Dr. Saro Armenian is the Barron Hilton Chair in Pediatrics and Chair and Professor of the Department of Pediatrics at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California. He directs the Division of Outcomes Research/Intervention in the Department of Population Sciences, the Center for Survivorship and Outcomes in the Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute, and the Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Survivorship Program. An internationally recognized physician-scientist focused on improving health outcomes of childhood and adult-onset cancer patients, he sees patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and leukemia. He is a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Research Scholar and the recipient of the Frank A. Oski Memorial Lectureship Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. He is a past chair of the Children’s Oncology Group Survivorship and Outcomes Committee and has led international efforts to establish research priorities through ASCO, the International Guidelines Harmonization Group for Cancer Survivors, and the NIH HCT Consensus Late Effects Initiative. He is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Expert Panel for Pediatric Aggressive Mature B-Cell Lymphoma and Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma and has published extensively in The Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Blood, and JAMA Oncology. Dr. Armenian is fluent in English, French, and Armenian.

Current Positions

  • Barron Hilton Chair in Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, City of Hope Cancer Center, 2022–present
  • Chair and Professor, Department of Pediatrics, City of Hope Cancer Center
  • Director and Professor, Division of Outcomes Research/Intervention, Department of Population Sciences, City of Hope Cancer Center, 2014–present
  • Director, Center for Survivorship and Outcomes, Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute, City of Hope Cancer Center, 2016–present
  • Director, Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Survivorship Program, City of Hope Cancer Center, 2014–present
  • Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Population Sciences, City of Hope Cancer Center, 2019–present
  • Co-leader, Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program, City of Hope Cancer Center, 2019–present
  • System Institutional Official, City of Hope

Education

  • B.A., University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1992–1996
  • D.O., Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine, Pomona, CA, 1998–2002
  • M.P.H., Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 2006–2007

Postgraduate Training

  • Residency, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, 2003–2005
  • Fellowship, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, 2005–2008

Professional Experience

  • Assistant Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Population Sciences, City of Hope, 2008–2014
  • Associate Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Population Sciences, City of Hope, 2014–2019
  • The Norman and Sadie Lee Foundation Professor in Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, 2020–2022
  • Barron Hilton Chair in Pediatrics, 2022–present

Research Activity

  • Cancer survivorship and late effects after blood or marrow transplantation (BMT): Co-investigator of the BMT Survivor Study (BMTSS), a landmark longitudinal cohort study of individuals who underwent BMT between 1974 and 2014 at three transplant centers; studies examining long-term chronic health conditions, frailty, functional impairment, quality of life, and mortality in BMT survivors vs. sibling controls; reports on long-term outcomes in older BMT recipients (Blood Advances, 2026); total body irradiation and smoking interaction in lung cancer risk after BMT (Blood Advances, 2026; Blood, 2025); social determinants of health and late mortality in allogeneic BMT survivors (Blood, 2025); suicidal ideation in long-term BMT survivors (Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, 2026)
  • Cardio-oncology: Major research focus on cardiovascular outcomes after cancer therapy; co-author of the 2025 ACC Concise Clinical Guidance on cardiovascular adverse effects of targeted oncology therapies including BTK inhibitors, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and VEGFR inhibitors (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2025, 7 citations); co-author of NT-proBNP-guided cardioprotection randomized clinical trial in patients receiving anthracyclines (JAMA Network Open, 2025, 5 citations); neighborhood social vulnerability and cardiovascular risk after allogeneic HCT (JACC Advances, 2026); clonal hematopoiesis and diabetes association with outcomes after autologous HCT (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2025); intensive SBP control in patients receiving VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (Hypertension, 2026)
  • Anthracycline cardiomyopathy in childhood cancer survivors: Co-investigator on Children’s Oncology Group studies characterizing cardiomyopathy risk and mitochondrial dysfunction gene signatures (Cardio-Oncology, 2025); echocardiographic prediction of cardiomyopathy in childhood cancer survivors including LASSO regression models (JACC Advances, 2025); AI vs. core lab echocardiogram measurement agreement in pediatric patients
  • Exercise rehabilitation and frailty reversal: Principal investigator of a randomized controlled trial of mHealth-supported exercise rehabilitation to reverse frailty in multiple myeloma survivors after autologous HCT (JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2025)
  • Physical activity and gamification in cancer survivors: Lead investigator of ALLSTAR, a randomized clinical trial of behaviorally designed gamification to increase physical activity among Black and Hispanic breast and prostate cancer survivors (JACC CardioOncology, 2025, 5 citations)
  • CAR T cell therapy outcomes in adolescents and young adults: Led a retrospective matched cohort analysis comparing CAR T cell therapy efficacy and toxicity in AYA vs. older adult patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at City of Hope (Blood, 2025)
  • Pre-transplant thymic function and HCT outcomes: Co-investigator on study developing a novel multiplex droplet digital PCR assay to quantify αTREC diversity as a biomarker of thymic reserve and predictor of post-HCT survival (Blood, 2025)
  • Dendritic cell dysfunction in ALL: Co-investigator on study demonstrating that dendritic cell dysfunction predicts poor prognosis in high-risk ALL (Blood, 2025; Cancer Immunology Research, 2026)
  • Disability-free survival in older allogeneic HCT recipients: Co-investigator on study establishing disability-free survival as a novel morbidity endpoint for older adult allogeneic HCT (Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, 2026)
  • Pediatric AML transplant outcomes: Co-investigator on multicenter retrospective study of chemotherapy cycles prior to allogeneic transplant and survival in pediatric AML (Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, 2026)
  • CHIP and outcomes after transplant: Co-investigator on association of clonal hematopoiesis with outcomes after autologous HCT (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2025)
    Health equity and social determinants: Research on neighborhood social vulnerability, environmental justice, and cardiovascular and mortality outcomes in cancer survivors and HCT recipients

Honors and Awards

  • Frank A. Oski Memorial Lectureship Award, American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, 2023
  • Barron Hilton Chair in Pediatrics, 2022
  • The Norman and Sadie Lee Foundation Professor in Pediatrics, 2020
  • Scholar in Clinical Research, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, 2016
  • Ruby N. Roney Endowment for Outstanding Faculty in Cancer Survivorship, 2012
  • National Marrow Donor Program Award, Best Abstract, ASH Annual Meeting, 2011
  • Research Career Development Award, STOP CANCER Foundation, 2011
  • Paul Calabresi Clinical Oncology Career Development Award, 2010
  • HistoGenetics New Investigator Award, American Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation, 2010
  • Faculty Instructor of the Year, Clinical Investigation Training Program, 2009–2010
  • Clinical Research Training Institute Fellow, American Society of Hematology, 2008
  • Fellow Teacher of the Year, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 2006
  • Della M. Mudd Award, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 2005
  • Frances Nunnally Winzer Scholar, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 2003
  • Charles Vowels M.D. Award, Western University of Health Sciences, 2002
  • Department of Pediatrics Award, Western University of Health Sciences, 2002

Memberships / Affiliations

  • American Association for Cancer Research
  • American College of Cardiology
  • American Heart Association
  • American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology
  • American Society of Hematology
  • American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology
  • Children’s Oncology Group (past chair, Survivorship and Outcomes Committee)
  • International Society of Pediatric Oncology
  • NCCN Expert Panel, Pediatric Aggressive Mature B-Cell Lymphoma (invited member)
  • NCCN Expert Panel, Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma (invited member)

Areas of Specialization

  • Pediatric and adult hematologic malignancies — Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia
  • Cancer survivorship — childhood, adolescent, and young adult
  • Late effects after blood or marrow transplantation
  • Cardio-oncology — cardiovascular outcomes, anthracycline cardiomyopathy, cardioprotection
  • Exercise rehabilitation and frailty in cancer survivors
  • Health equity and social determinants of health in cancer survivors
  • CAR T cell therapy outcomes in adolescents and young adults
  • Population sciences and outcomes research
  • Biomarker-guided risk stratification in cancer survivors

Publications

Dr. Armenian has authored and co-authored more than 429 publications in The Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Blood, JAMA Oncology, JAMA Network Open, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, JACC CardioOncology, JACC Advances, Blood Advances, Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Nature Communications, and others.

Select Recent Publications:

Bhandari R, Meng Q, Hageman L, Armenian SH, et al. “Long-term health outcomes in older recipients of blood or marrow transplantation: a report from the BMTSS.” Blood Advances, April 2026.

Wu S, Rhee J-W, Armenian S. “Not All Hematologic Malignancies Are Created Equal.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, April 2026.

Fanaroff AC, Orr JA, Anucha C, Armenian SH, et al. “Behaviorally Designed Gamification and Physical Activity Among Breast and Prostate Cancer Survivors.” JACC CardioOncology, November 2025. 5 citations.

Ganatra S, Barac A, Armenian S, Vo JB, et al. “Diagnosis and Management of Cardiovascular Adverse Effects of Targeted Oncology Therapies: BTK, Immune Checkpoint, and VEGFR Inhibitors: 2025 ACC Concise Clinical Guidance.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, December 2025. 7 citations.

Xia C, Smith AM, Lefebvre B, Armenian SH, Ky B, et al. “Biomarker-Guided Cardioprotection for Patients Treated With Anthracyclines: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” JAMA Network Open, December 2025. 5 citations.

Bhandari R, Ogiamien O, Chen S, Armenian SH, et al. “Neighborhood Social Vulnerability and Cardiovascular Risk After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.” JACC Advances, January 2026.

Bhandari R, Rhee J-W, Chen S, Armenian SH, et al. “Association of clonal haematopoiesis and diabetes with outcomes after autologous haematopoietic cell transplantation.” Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, December 2025.

Murphy L, Thornock M, Du X, Armenian S, et al. “CAR T-cell therapy outcomes in adolescent and young adult patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.” Blood, November 2025.

Kumar A, Hamane K, Duault C, Armenian S, Swaminathan S, et al. “Tumor-induced dendritic cell dysfunction impairs T-cell proliferation and confers poor prognosis in high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia.” Blood, November 2025.

Wadhwa A, Vandeberg BG, Meng Q, Bhatia S, Armenian SH, et al. “Social determinants of health and late mortality among allogeneic blood or marrow transplant (BMT) survivors: A BMTSS report.” Blood, November 2025.

Leger K, Stratton KL, Sachdeva R, Armenian SH, Chow EJ, et al. “Enhancing Prediction of Cancer Therapy-Related Cardiomyopathy From Surveillance Echocardiograms: A Children’s Oncology Group Study.” JACC Advances, November 2025.

Lee K, Shamunee J, Lee H, Armenian S, et al. “mHealth-Supported Exercise Rehabilitation to Reverse Frailty After Autologous Transplantation in Multiple Myeloma: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” JMIR mHealth and uHealth, November 2025.

Trainor P, Singh P, Wang X, Armenian SH, Bhatia S, et al. “Anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy in childhood cancer survivors is associated with gene signatures of mitochondrial dysfunction — a COG ALTE03N1 report.” Cardio-Oncology, October 2025.

Balas N, Chen Y, Meng Q, Armenian SH, Bhatia S, et al. “Total body irradiation and smoking interact to increase lung cancer risk after blood or marrow transplantation.” Blood Advances, May 2026.

Ramos Perez JM, Shan H, Yang D, Armenian SH, Artz AS, et al. “Disability-Free Survival: A Novel Morbidity Endpoint for Older Adult Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.” Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, March 2026. 1 citation.

Murphy LA, Du X, Armenian SH, Keating AK, et al. “Impact of Chemotherapy Cycles Prior to Allogeneic Transplant on Survival in Pediatric AML: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.” Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, February 2026.

All information is sourced from publicly available materials.