A Charlotte, N.C., native, Grayson W. Armstrong, MD, MPH,studied music and chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated in 2009 with distinction, and received a Golden Key International Honor Society Leadership Award. Subsequently, he matriculated to The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University where his research covered topics ranging from optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography in pediatric choroidal neovascularization, OCT angiography to assess pigmented epithelial detachments, pediatric eye injuries treated in United States emergency departments, and motor vehicle crash-associated eye injuries in the United States.

While in medical school, Dr. Armstrong concurrently received a masters of public health focused on Health Care Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health where he had the opportunity to advise international non-governmental organizations and the Jordanian Government on Syrian refugee policies resulting from the Syrian civil war. His training included a leadership concentration. He has a long track record of involvement in health policy and public health, primarily focusing on issues affecting patients’ access to care. He has served as a fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and worked with the Massachusetts Governor’s office to secure resident access to the state’s prescription drug monitoring program. Within organized medicine, Dr. Armstrong has served on the executive committee of the Massachusetts Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, on multiple committees of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and on the Board of Directors of the American Medical Association’s Political Action Committee (AMPAC). He was recently elected to serve on the American Medical Association’s Board of Trustees for a two-year term.

Dr. Armstrong has fostered an interest in health care technology innovation and entrepreneurship since medical school. He has served as an advisor for various health technology startups. In his role as founder of OculAR, he has been working with collaborators in Boston and across the United States in the design of novel telemedicine and artificial intelligence technologies in the field of ophthalmology.

During his medical training, Dr. Armstrong was a prolific scholar who published over 16 peer-reviewed publications, multiple book chapters, and presented research and lectures at multiple national and international conferences. Prior to beginning his residency at Harvard Ophthalmology, Dr. Armstrong was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and the Gold Humanism Honor Society, and completed his transitional year internship at HMS-affiliated Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, MA.

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Harvard Catalyst Profile