Seattle Children’s Announces Appointment of Dr. Vittorio Gallo as Chief Scientific Officer

Seattle Children’s has appointed Dr. Vittorio Gallo as senior vice president and chief scientific officer.

As senior vice president and chief scientific officer, Dr. Gallo will serve as the principal scientific executive of the health system and partner with Chief Research Operations Officer Dr. Eric Tham and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Leslie Walker-Harding to provide scientific leadership for the research institute.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to support this nationally recognized institution and I look forward to helping accelerate our research to have an even greater impact on pediatric healthcare,” said Gallo. “Our research community plays an essential role in helping deliver cutting-edge clinical care and I am eager to bolster our work to provide more hope, care and cures to the patients and families we serve.”

Gallo most recently served as both interim chief academic officer for Children’s National Hospital and interim director of Children’s National Research Institute. He was also associate dean for Child Health Research, and a professor of pediatrics, pharmacology and physiology at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Across these various roles, Gallo focused on promoting translational research, and enhancing integration between lab-based and clinical investigation across both institutions.

Gallo is an internationally recognized neuroscientist who will continue to run his neuroscience lab and research program at Seattle Children’s Research Institute in the Center for Integrative Brain Research. His lab will be a highly translational lab that will focus on researching neonatal brain injuries.

He completed his doctoral degree research at the Institute of Cell Biology, National Research Council, Rome, and received his PhD in biochemistry and neurobiology from the University of Rome. Gallo did his postdoctoral work at the MRC Developmental Neurobiology Unit, London; at the Laboratory of Preclinical Pharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH; and in the Department of Pharmacology at University College, London.

In his free time, Gallo likes to collect art and he is interested in playing a role in the local art scene in Seattle. He is passionate about bringing younger artists into the art community and expanding the diversity of contributions in art. He also enjoys reading (in three different languages), exercising, and listening to a variety of music, ranging from jazz to opera.