Dr. Salvatore La Rosa is a non-profit executive with extensive experience in advancing research programs and treatment pipelines for rare diseases, is the Kidney Cancer Association’s (KCA) first Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and has served in that role since 2023.
“Salvo” has overseen KCA’s research initiatives, patient services, and all programs that drive clinical advances for the benefit of people impacted by kidney cancer.
He brought over 20 years of experience in neurodegeneration and oncology drug discovery to the KCA. In his previous role as CSO of the Children’s Tumor Foundation, he built numerous innovative initiatives in grant-making, team science, open science, and data sharing, contributing to the growing pipeline of experimental treatments now in clinical development for neurofibromatosis and schwannomatosis. He began his career in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries bringing new small molecules from early identification through clinical development.
Dr. La Rosa holds a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland in the UK and an MS in Organic Chemistry from the University of Messina in Italy. He is based in Miami, FL.
