Heather Armstrong

Background

About Heather Armstrong

Dr Armstrong is a New Zealand and Canadian national. Her team is in the process of moving to the University of Alberta beginning May 2025 where she begins her Tenured Associate Professor position with the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology. Her international team utilizes a field to bench to bedside approach to understanding the impact of fermentable dietary factors and their healthful interactions with gut microbiota, the host gut, and systemic host cell subsets. Her primary research and clinical focus is to uncover how changes in the gut microbiota can impact the way the body utilizes dietary factors, and the positive and negative impacts that result in disease settings such as inflammatory bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, liver diseases, and cancers. She works closely with industry partners to utilize research findings to develop science-baked health products, which is something largely missing in the food and beverage industry overall. She is a scientific advisor, director, and owner of several businesses with focus on fundraising for research, community engagement, research and clinical bioinformatics and analytics, and health product developments. Dr Armstrong began her career in medicine and research at the University of Alberta in Canada, under the supervision of Dr. Paul LaPointe, where she completed an MSc in Cell Biology studying molecular chaperones, protein pathways, and their role in disease. She completed her PhD-MED at the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) where her PhD research focused on the efficacy and molecular mechanism of action of Heat Shock Protein inhibitors in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer. She went on to complete a pediatric fellowship with Dr. Eytan Wine at the Stollery Children's Hospital at the University of Alberta where her research examined clinical gastroenterology and microbiology with a focus on IBD. She was also a lecturer for the University of Alberta, School of Medicine and Dentistry where she taught a number of MD/DDS courses through which she continues to inspire the future clinicians of tomorrow to promote inclusivity and critical thinking in order to improve their own future practices. She aspires to continue to express her passion for helping patients to overcome their medical struggles both clinically and through research, along with aiding to determine the mechanisms of disease development and progression, and assisting in the development of better methods of treatment.