Gevorg Tamamyan

Gevorg Tamamyan is an Armenian pediatric oncologist and hematologist. He is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology at Yerevan State Medical University and Chief Executive Officer of the Immune Oncology Research Institute (IMMONC) in Yerevan. He is co-founder and editor-in-chief of OncoDaily, an oncology media platform.

Tamamyan has been involved in several international oncology societies, including the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) and the Pediatric Oncology East and Mediterranean (POEM) Group, a network of pediatric cancer centers across 28 countries. He has authored or co-authored peer-reviewed work published in journals including The Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Nature Reviews Cancer, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Education and training Tamamyan received his MD from Yerevan State Medical University in 2010, followed by an MSc in Advanced Oncology from the University of Ulm, Germany (2015), supported by a full two-year European School of Oncology scholarship. He completed his PhD in Oncology at YSMU in 2016 and was awarded the Doctor of Medical Sciences (DSc) degree, also from YSMU, in 2020.

His postgraduate clinical training included a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Leukemia at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (2014–2015), a fellowship at St. Anna Children's Hospital in Vienna (2013–2014), a Medical Research Fellowship with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC, 2014), and a pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship at China Medical University (2012). He also undertook a visiting scientist appointment at Dana-Farber / Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center (2015).

Executive and global health training includes programs at Harvard Medical School (High-Impact Cancer Research Program), the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Global Health Delivery Intensive), and the University of Toronto (Global Health Diplomacy Executive Program). He received full scholarship support from the Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery – Dubai and the AGBU / Taktajian Family Fund.

He obtained MD, Ph.D., and DSc degrees from the Yerevan State Medical University, an MSc degree in oncology from the University of Ulm, and completed a postdoc in leukemia at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA) and a postgraduate program at the Harvard Medical School (USA).

He was the chairman of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) IDEA steering group, co-founder of the Institute of Cancer and Crisis, the Armenian Association of Hematology and Oncology, the 4090 Foundation, co-founder and a board member of the City of Smile Charitable Foundation. He was the 2018-2019 President of the Harvard Club of Armenia.

Academic and clinical roles Since 2019, Tamamyan has served as Chairman and Professor of the Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology at YSMU, and as Adviser to the Rector for Science, Innovation, and Development since 2017. From 2019 to 2024 he was Head of the Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia at Yeolyan Hematology and Oncology Center. He previously held positions as Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology at YSMU (2018–2019) and Adviser in Oncology to the Ministry of Health of Armenia (2018–2019). He is a Preceptor at the School of Public Health, American University of Armenia.

Pediatric oncology in Armenia As Head of the Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia, Tamamyan oversaw the introduction of standardized treatment protocols and development of multidisciplinary care. During this period, reported survival rates for pediatric malignancies at the center increased to approximately 80 percent. He also initiated the first dedicated fellowship program in pediatric oncology and hematology in Armenia, established at Yerevan State Medical University.

Leukemia research During his postdoctoral fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Tamamyan contributed to a study on malignancy-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in adult patients, published in Cancer in 2016.

International roles Tamamyan serves as President of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology Asia Continental Branch (SIOP Asia) and President of the Pediatric Oncology East and Mediterranean (POEM) Group.

Cancer in conflict Tamamyan co-founded the Institute of Cancer and Crisis and was a co-author of a 2024 statement published in The Lancet, calling for improved cancer care for populations affected by armed conflict. He also contributed a correspondence to Lancet Global Health (2021) on the impact of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on cancer patients.

Selected publications