David Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD

Clinical Fellow, USC Schaeffer Center
Professor of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Director, Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA)

David Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD's Bio

Dr. Armstrong is Professor of Surgery with Tenure at the University of Southern California. Dr. Armstrong holds a Master of Science in Tissue Repair and Wound Healing from the University of Wales College of Medicine and a PhD from the University of Manchester College of Medicine, where he was appointed Visiting Professor of Medicine. He is founder and co-Director of the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA).

Dr. Armstrong has produced more than 660 peer-reviewed research papers in dozens of scholarly medical journals as well as over 110 books or book chapters. He is founding co- Editor of the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Clinical Care of the Diabetic Foot, now entering its fourth edition.

Armstrong is Director of USC’s National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Center to Stream Healthcare in Place (C2SHiP) which places him at the nexus of the merger of consumer electronics, wearables, and medical devices in an effort to maximize hospital-free and activity-rich days.

Dr. Armstrong was selected as one of the first six International Wound Care Ambassadors and is the recipient of numerous awards and degrees by universities and international medical organizations including the inaugural Georgetown Distinguished Award for Diabetic Limb Salvage. In 2008, he was the 25th and youngest-ever member elected to the Podiatric Medicine Hall of Fame. He was the first surgeon to be appointed University Distinguished Outreach Professor at the University of Arizona. He was also the first podiatric surgeon to be selected as President of Faculty at Keck School of Medicine of USC. Furthermore, he was the first podiatric surgeon to become a member of the Society of Vascular Surgery and the first US podiatric surgeon named fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow. He is the 2010 and youngest ever recipient of both the ADA’s Roger Pecoraro Award and 2023 recipient of the ISDF’s Karel Bakker Award, the highest awards given in the field.

Dr. Armstrong is past Chair of Scientific Sessions for the ADA’s Foot Care Council, and a past member of the National Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association. He sits on the Infectious Disease Society of America’s (IDSA) Diabetic Foot Infection Advisory Committee and is the US appointed delegate to the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF). Dr. Armstrong is the founder and co-chair of the International Diabetic Foot Conference (DF-Con), the largest annual international symposium on the diabetic foot in the world. He is also the Founding President of the American Limb Preservation Society (ALPS), a medical and surgical society dedicated to building interdisciplinary teams to eliminate preventable amputation in the USA and worldwide.

Recent Work