Judith Salerno

Judith A. Salerno, M.D., M.S., is the President and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, serving in the past as the Leonard D. Schaeffer Executive Officer of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. As executive officer, Dr. Salerno was the executive director and chief operating officer of the Institute. She was responsible for managing the IOM’s research programs and guiding the Institute’s work on a daily basis. Prior to coming to the IOM, Dr. Salerno was Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health, 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. 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. Before joining the NIA in 2001, Dr. Salerno directed the continuum of Geriatrics and Extended Care programs across the country for the U.S. 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 NIA, implementing clinical research protocols for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and hypertension. Dr. Salerno earned her M.D. degree 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 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.