Former New York City Chief Demographer Joins UVA Biocomplexity Institute as Institute Fellow
The University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute is pleased to announce the visiting scholar appointment of Joseph J. Salvo as an Institute Fellow, joining a distinguished group of scholars who have been added to the Institute in recent years.
Salvo spent close to three decades as New York City’s chief demographer at the Department of City Planning and was the leading authority in providing data and analysis of the city’s always-changing populace. Considered a top expert in the statistical study of human populations, Salvo’s expertise helped New York City officials, community organizers and journalists understand the complexities of the demographic landscape in a city that experienced dramatic growth over the last 10 years, reaching a current population of a record 8.8 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
As an Institute Fellow, Salvo will engage with the UVA community of faculty, researchers, and students at the Biocomplexity Institute, and specifically, with the Social and Decision Analytics division, including its collaborators across the University. He will serve as a mentor to junior and senior researchers and advise as a subject matter expert on new and ongoing research projects.
“We are happy to welcome Joe to our team and look forward to drawing from his expertise to help inform some of today’s societal challenges,” said Sallie Keller, distinguished professor in Biocomplexity and director of the Institute’s Social and Decision Analytics division. “With more than 30 years of experience in the leadership of major demographic research projects involving the analysis of complex data sources, Joe’s expertise is pivotal to the current and future biocomplexity research focused on evidence-based policy development. Joe has a unique ability to dissect and analyze social and economic data and explain this information to policymakers, who are in turn able to employ the data insights to support policy and practice development. He will be an invaluable member of our team.”
Salvo, who recently retired from New York City’s Department of City Planning, currently works as a senior advisor with the National Conference on Citizenship in Washington, D.C., collaborating with data users and the U.S. Census Bureau in addition to his UVA role as Institute Fellow.
“I’m excited to join the University of Virginia and contribute to the critical research taking place at the Biocomplexity Institute,” Salvo said. “The opportunity to collaborate alongside researchers in an academic setting will be a rewarding and worthwhile endeavor after years in New York City planning. I look forward to supporting the Institute’s work and serving UVA’s research mission to advance knowledge through discoveries that enrich and improve lives.”
During his career, Salvo also has served as an advisor to the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Academy of Sciences and is a former president of the Association of Public Data Users. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Fordham University and is a recipient of several service awards, including the Sloan Public Service Award from the Fund for the City of New York; the Public Service Award from the Population Association of America; the Founders Award from Citizens Committee for Children of New York; the Ibo Balton Award for Community Planning from the Citizens Housing and Planning Council of New York; and a Career Achievement Award from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of City Planners.
Salvo also is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and a fellow of the New York Academy of History.
Joseph J. Salvo’s bio is available on the Biocomplexity Institute’s website.