Dr. Bukola Salami, PhD RN FCAN FAAN

Dr. Bukola Salami is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Black and Racialized Peoples' Health at the Cumming School of Medicine and Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary. Professor Salami’s research program focuses on policies and practices shaping migrant health as well as Black People’s health. She has been involved in over 90 funded studies totalling over $230 million. She has led research projects on topics including African immigrant child health, immigrant mental health, access to healthcare for Black women, access to healthcare for immigrant children, Black youth mental health, the health of internally displaced children, the well-being of temporary foreign workers, COVID vaccine hesitancy among Black Canadians, an environmental scan of equity seeking organizations in Alberta, culturally appropriate practices for research with Black Canadians, international nurse migration, and parenting practices of African immigrants. She is one of the most published Black health researchers in Canada with over 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

She founded and leads the African Child and Youth Migration Network, a network of around 50 scholars from four continents. In 2020, she founded the Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program. The program, the first university-based fully interdisciplinary mentorship program for Black youths in Canada, seeks to socially and economically empower Black high school youths to meaningfully contribute to Canadian society. Her work on Black youth mental health informed the creation of the first mental health clinic for Black Canadians in Western Canada (which was founded by Africa Centre and the Alberta Black Therapist Network). She has presented her work to policy makers (including twice to the Prime Minister of Canada and once to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health). Her work has contributed to policy change, including that related to Black people’s well-being. In 2015/2016, she was a collaborating researcher at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. She has trained over 100 undergraduate and graduate students, including many (~10) who are now Assistant or Associate Professors.

Dr. Salami has received several awards for research excellence and community engagement: 100 Accomplished Black Women in Canada; Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing Emerging Nurse Researcher of the Year Award; College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) Award for Nursing Excellence; Rosalind Smith Professional Award from the National Black Coalition of Canada – Edmonton Chapter; Alberta Avenue Edmonton Top 40 under 40; Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame; Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing; Killam Accelerator Award (a $225,000 value for research); Top 25 Canadian Immigrants; Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal recipient; WXN EDI Leaders Award, and Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Salami is a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, the O’Brien Institute for Public Health, the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education.