Judith A. Salerno

Judith A. Salerno, M.D., M.S., is the President of The New York Academy of Medicine[1]. Previously she served as the President and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure[2] and as the Leonard D. Schaeffer Executive Officer of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies. In her role at the IOM, Dr. Salerno was the executive director and chief operating officer of the Institute. She was responsible for managing the IOM’s research and policy programs and guiding the Institute’s operations on a daily basis.[3]

Prior to the IOM, Salerno was Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She oversaw over $1 billion in aging research conducted and supported annually by the Institute, including research on Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, frailty, and function in late life, and the social, behavioral, and demographic aspects of aging. As the NIA’s senior geriatrician, Dr. Salerno was vitally interested in improving the health and well-being of older persons, and designed public-private initiatives to address aging stereotypes, novel approaches to support training of new investigators in aging, and award-winning programs to communicate health and research advances to the public.

Before joining the NIA in 2001, Salerno directed the continuum of Geriatrics and Extended Care programs across the nation for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Washington, D.C. While at the VA, she launched widely recognized national initiatives for pain management and improving end-of-life care. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Salerno was Associate Chief of Staff at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C. where she developed and implemented innovative approaches to geriatric primary care and coordinated area-wide geriatric medicine training. Dr. Salerno also cofounded the Washington, D.C. Area Geriatric Education Center Consortium, a collaboration of more than 160 educational and community organizations within the Baltimore-Washington region. The consortium generates educational opportunities for professionals serving the aging. Earlier in her career, Dr. Salerno was a Senior Clinical Investigator at the National Institute on Aging, implementing clinical research protocols for patients with Alzheimer's and hypertension. Dr. Salerno also served on numerous boards and national committees concerned with health care issues ranging from the quality of care in long-term care to the future of the geriatric workforce and currently serves of the boards of several arts organizations.

Dr. Salerno was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2018[4] and was elected as a Fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine in 2017.

Dr. Salerno earned her M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1985 and a Master of Science degree in Health Policy from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1976. She received a bachelor's degree in history from Stonehill College in 1973. She also holds a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Geriatric Medicine and was Associate Clinical Professor of Health Care Sciences and of Medicine at the George Washington University until 2001. She raised her 3 children - Alyssa, Lauren and Michael - in Great Falls, Virginia.

Salerno replaced Nancy Brinker as CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.[5]