Scott Harper, PhD

Scott Harper, PhD, is a principal investigator in the Center for Gene Therapy at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a professor of Pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Harper is currently a standing member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Neurological Sciences and Disorders B (NSD-B) study section and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA). He also serves on three committees of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) and is the chief scientific advisor at Armatus Bio.

Dr. Harper earned his doctorate degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan Medical School, where he worked in the lab of Jeff Chamberlain, MD, to develop the first generation of micro-dystrophin gene therapies for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). He then completed postdoctoral training in the lab of Beverly Davidson, PhD, at the University of Iowa, where he developed RNAi-based gene therapies to treat dominant neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Harper’s primary research focus at Nationwide Children's has been developing adeno-associated virus (AAV) based gene therapies to treat neuromuscular and neurological disorders, including muscular dystrophy (FSHD, LGMD1A), peripheral neuropathy (CMT1A, CMT2D, CMT4B3) and dominant epilepsy. His lab has also focused on developing models and studying the pathogenesis of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).