Biography

Dr. Salemi is a proud Tampeño and an accomplished triple alumnus of the University of South Florida (USF), having earned his BSc in Biology/Pre-Med Sciences in 2000, his MPH in 2005, and his PhD in Epidemiology in 2014, with concentrations in Biostatistics and Applied Biostatistics. After completing his doctoral studies, he joined Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, TX, as a tenure-earning Assistant Professor. During his tenure at BCM, Dr. Salemi served as Director of Analytics for the Center for Primary Care and Population Health Research (2015), Assistant Director of a HRSA-funded Postdoctoral Primary Care Research Fellowship (2015), and Clinical Research Trainer for BCM’s Center of Excellence in Health Equity, Training and Research (2017). In 2019, he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. Dr. Salemi returned to USF in 2020, where he continues to build productive relationships with colleagues in the College of Public Health and the Morsani College of Medicine.

Dr. Salemi is a nationally recognized expert in birth defects surveillance methodology, evaluation, and research, and has worked on and led numerous state- and federally-funded grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. He has a versatile proficiency in epidemiological methodology, database development, as well as data linkage, management, and analysis. Dr. Salemi has held leadership positions in national committees, including his roles as Chair of the Data Committee and Surveillance Guidelines and Standards Committee for the National Birth Defects Prevention Network (NBDPN), and his past tenure as the NBDPN President in 2018. In recognition of his outstanding research achievements, Dr. Salemi was selected as a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology in 2021 and awarded the Outstanding Research Achievement Award at USF in 2022. He has authored over 180 peer-reviewed papers, as well as numerous abstracts and conference talks. He currently serves as concentration lead for the PhD program in epidemiology and as President of the Faculty Assembly at the College of Public Health.

Dr. Salemi is passionate about education, mentoring, and advising students and junior faculty. He currently teaches epidemiology methods courses and computer applications for public health researchers and serves as the faculty advisor for the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Student Association (EBSA).

Dr. Salemi is also committed to serving his community. In May 2020, he created a statewide, interactive dashboard to track COVID-19 in Florida, which has gained national attention and continues to be a vital resource for researchers, data scientists, advocacy groups, county commissioners, and citizens throughout the state. Dr. Salemi has been featured in hundreds of local, national, and international media stories (print, TV, radio, podcasts) for his expertise on the importance of complete, accurate, and timely data on COVID-19 and its impact on the population.