Deborah Salvo, PhD
Director, Center for Research to Community Impact
Associate Professor, Kinesiology & Health Education
The University of Texas at Austin
Deborah Salvo, PhD, works at the intersection of physical activity and spatial epidemiology, with profound commitment to documenting, understanding, and resolving disparities in access to health-promoting and environmentally sustainable urban environments for all. She specializes in conducting studies assessing and leveraging the role of place (physical, social, and policy context) on physical activity and other health-related behaviors, with the goal of promoting physical activity and health equity. Dr. Salvo has a special interest in Latino/Latin American populations, both in the United States and across Latin America. Dr. Salvo’s work also strongly focuses on building research capacity for physical activity and public health in low- and middle-income countries. She founded the Latin American Society of Physical Activity and Health Research (SLIAFS) in 2021, co-founded and co-directed the Global Observatory of Healthy and Sustainable Cities in 2021, and serves as the President-Elect of the International Society of Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) for the 2024–2026 term.