Bukola Oladunni Salami
Professor Bukola Salami received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Windsor, Master of Nursing from the University of Toronto, and PhD in Nursing from the University of Toronto. In July 2023, she became a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary and a research chair in an area relevant to Black and racialized people’s health. Previously, she held the rank of Full Professor in the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta. She is the former Director of the Intersections of Gender Signature Area in the Office of the Vice President Research at the University of Alberta (September 2021 to March 2023). Professor Salami’s research program focuses on policies and practices shaping migrant health as well as Black people’s health. She has been involved in over 85 funded studies totalling over $230 million. She has led research projects on topics including African immigrant child health, immigrant mental health, access to healthcare for Black women, access to healthcare for immigrant children, Black youth mental health, the health of internally displaced children, the well-being of temporary foreign workers, COVID vaccine hesitancy among Black Canadians, an environmental scan of equity seeking organizations in Alberta, culturally appropriate practices for research with Black Canadians, international nurse migration, and parenting practices of African immigrants. She is one of the most published Black health researchers in Canada with over 110 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She founded and leads the African Child and Youth Migration Network, a network of 42 scholars from four continents. In 2020, she founded the Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program at the University of Alberta. The program, the first university-based fully interdisciplinary mentorship program for Black youths in Canada, seeks to socially and economically empower Black high school youths to meaningfully contribute to Canadian society. Her work on Black youth mental health informed the creation of the first mental health clinic for Black Canadians in Western Canada (which was founded by Africa Centre and the Alberta Black Therapist Network). She has presented her work to policy makers (including twice to the Prime Minister of Canada and once to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health). Her work has contributed to policy change, including that related to Black people’s well-being. In 2015/2016, she was a collaborating researcher at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. She has trained over 100 undergraduate and graduate students, including many (~10) who are now Assistant or Associate Professors. She is involved in several community volunteer initiatives, including the Public Health Agency of Canada Working Group on the Mental Health of Black Canadians and the Bell Let’s Talk Funding Advisory Committee. She is a Board member of the Black Opportunities Fund, Canadian Nurses Association, Black Physicians of Alberta (Vice President), and Black Health Alliance. She is a former Board member of Africa Center (the largest Black organization in Western Canada), Alberta College of Social Workers, Edmonton Local Immigrant Partnership, National Association of Nigerian Nurses of North America, International Nursing Interest Group of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, and Project Esperance (a housing unit for women in Toronto). In addition to being an Editor for the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, she is an Associate Editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and on the Editorial Board of Nursing Inquiry and Qualitative Health Research. She is an advisory board member of the CIHR Institute for Human Development, Child and Youth Health. She has reviewed grant applications for several organizations, including the Public Health Agency of Canada, Bell Let’s Talk, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Edmonton Community Foundation, United Kingdom Medical Research Council, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Alberta Health Services Strategic Clinical Network, Women and Children’s Health Research Institute, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, and Alberta Innovates Health Solutions. Dr. Salami has received several awards for research excellence and community engagement: 100 Accomplished Black Women in Canada; Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing Emerging Nurse Researcher of the Year Award; College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) Award for Nursing Excellence; Rosalind Smith Professional Award from the National Black Coalition of Canada – Edmonton Chapter; and Alberta Avenue Edmonton Top 40 under 40. In 2020, she became a recipient of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame, the highest research award in nursing. In 2021, she became a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing. That same year, she received the Killam Accelerator Award (a $225,000 value for research) given to the best early career researcher at the University of Alberta. In 2022, she was named among the Top 25 Canadian Immigrants. In 2023, she was a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal recipient and became a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Research Discipline: Social, Cultural, Environmental, and Population Health Research
Institution: University of Calgary
Email: oluwabukola.salami@ucalgary.ca
Clinical Discipline: Nursing
Career Stage: Mid Career Investigator