Deborah Salvo

Deborah Salvo, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the College of Education, University of Texas at Austin. She serves as Director of the Center for Research to Community Impact since 2024 and holds the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Faculty Fellowship for 2024-2026. Salvo earned her Ph.D. in Biological and Biomedical Sciences, with a Nutrition and Health Sciences track focused on Public Health and Epidemiology, from Emory University in 2013. She received her B.S. in Nutrition and Food Sciences from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City in 2006. Prior to her current role, she was an Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis (2018-2022), Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health (2016-2018), and held postdoctoral positions at UTHealth Houston (2015-2016) and Stanford University (2013-2014). She also serves as Honorary Professor and Researcher at the Nutrition and Health Research Center, National Institute of Public Health of Mexico since 2014.

Salvo's research focuses on physical activity and public health, examining the role of social, built, and policy environments in physical activity patterns and health disparities, with particular emphasis on Latin American populations in the U.S. and abroad. Her work aims to produce evidence for reducing spatial health disparities in access to active lifestyle environments and includes objective measures of physical activity and geospatial exposures. She participates in multinational collaborations such as the International Physical Activity and Environment Network (IPEN), Lancet Series on Physical Activity, Global Observatory for Physical Activity, and Global Observatory for Healthy and Sustainable Cities. Salvo advises organizations including the World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, and the Fogarty International Center/NIH. She has co-authored key books including Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health, Third Edition (Human Kinetics, 2025) and Second Edition (2019). Notable publications include 'When moving is the only option: the role of necessity versus choice for understanding and promoting physical activity in low- and middle-income countries' (Annual Review of Public Health, 2023), 'Where Latin Americans are physically active, and why does it matter? Findings from the IPEN-adult study' (Preventive Medicine, 2017), and 'Impacts of a temporary urban pop-up park on physical activity and other individual- and community-level outcomes' (Journal of Urban Health, 2017). Her scholarly impact is evidenced by contributions to high-citation works in The Lancet. Awards include induction into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health (2021), Crystal Quill Publication Awards (2019, 2017), and Excellence in Research Award from the Center for Active Design (2015). Salvo holds editorial roles as Senior Associate Editor of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health (2021-2025) and has led capacity-building efforts, including organizing the first Latin American Congress on Physical Activity and Health Research in 2021.