Dr. Jennifer Salerno’s research interests include chronic disease epidemiology and the application of epidemiology methods to trial research, population and public health, and health services research. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto, MSc in Community Health and Epidemiology from Queen’s University, and Honours BSc from McMaster University’s Biology and Pharmacology Co-operative Program. She completed fellowship training at both the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute in the area of traumatic brain injury epidemiology and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute's Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch) in the area of breast cancer epidemiology. Her previous research interests included studying the epidemiology of brain injuries and related vascular dementias, and specifically, examining the etiology of cognitive function in aging populations using molecular/biochemical methods and advanced statistical models. She previously worked for several years as a clinical epidemiologist in the Government of Ontario (MOHLTC and Health Quality Ontario) where she performed several health technology assessments, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. She also developed cancer clinical practice guidelines supporting Cancer Care Ontario's Cancer Imaging Program through McMaster's Program in Evidence-Based Care, Department of Oncology.
Currently, at McMaster University, she is a Research Associate for the Department of Family Medicine. She is involved in the TAPER research study (TAPER: Team Approach to Polypharmacy Evaluation and Reduction) which aims to reduce multiple medication use and the harmful effects of polypharmacy among older adults. She is also involved with the Primary Care Research Collaborative (PCRC) in the Department of Family Medicine by providing clinical faculty teaching and mentoring initiatives and developing the patient/public/community advisory group for the PCRC. She is a co-investigator on a grant examining the impacts of virtual care in the primary care setting and is involved in several projects using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) data led by the Department of Family Medicine. She currently teaches in the health research methodology and ehealth programs in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster and is currently the Chair of the American College of Epidemiology (ACE) Ethics Committee. She has held numerous leadership positions in ACE and more recently, she is involved with the International Epidemiological Association as the North American Regional Councillor.
