UCalgary Nursing now home to two executive leaders of Canadian Nurses Association

With nursing professor Dr. Bukola Salami’s, PhD, recent appointment, the Faculty of Nursing is now home to over half of the Canadian Nurses Association’s executive committee and another Canada Research Chair.

Salami, CNA vice-president, became a professor in the Faculty of Nursing on Sept. 1, 2024. She currently holds a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Tier 1 CRC in Black and Racialized Peoples’ Health. She joins Dr. Tracie Risling, PhD, CNA president-elect, at the University of Calgary. 

The CNA is the national and global professional voice of Canadian nursing, representing registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed and registered practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, retired nurses and nursing students across all 13 provinces and territories.

“I am so very proud that both the vice-president and president-elect of the CNA are from the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary,” says Risling, associate dean, innovation and associate professor, UCalgary Nursing. “I have long admired the incredible depth and breadth of not only the research, but the leadership that Dr. Salami has and is achieving in her career. Beyond the award-winning science, it is the connectivity including a vast network of personal mentorship that Bukola has built that is truly an inspiration.”

Salami’s research and work focuses on the health of Black and racialized communities. She is also a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine. 

Before coming to the University of Calgary, Salami was a full professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Nursing and former director of the Intersections of Gender Signature Area in the Office of the Vice President Research. She is one of the most published Black health researchers in Canada with around 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Her research portfolio ranges from African immigrant child health and immigrant mental health to health-care access for Black women, immigrant children, and Black youth mental health. She has been involved in over 90 funded studies totalling over $230 million.

At UCalgary, Salami is also 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.

“Canadians face racialized health inequalities which have a negative impact on the health of Black and racialized people. Racism plays a significant role in contributing to poor health outcomes, leading to a decrease in overall population health,” says Salami.

To address this issue, she is conducting original research, developing collaborative action plans, building knowledge capacity (including training for early career researchers), and establishing networks with a goal of transforming the health outcomes of Black and racialized people in Canada.

She founded and leads the African Child and Youth Migration Network, a network of 42 scholars from four continents. In 2020, she founded the Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program, the first university-based fully interdisciplinary mentorship program for Black youths in Canada, which seeks to socially and economically empower Black high school youths to meaningfully contribute to Canadian society.

Read on to learn more about Dr. Bukola Salami. 

What brought you to the University of Calgary? 

“I was already engaged with some researchers at the University of Calgary and the opportunity to further collaborate was beneficial to me. I was offered positions at four different universities and it was a difficult decision but in the end, I chose the University of Calgary because my family wanted to stay in Alberta. Alberta is home.”

What are you most excited about with joining the Faculty of Nursing? 

“In my role as CNA vice-president, it’s very important for me to connect with nurses and actually get to know what nurses experience. I also have a commitment to mentoring equity-deserving early career researchers in nursing. This is what I want to really focus on in terms of my work at the Faculty of Nursing: mentorship, capacity building and graduate supervision of early career researchers in nursing. 

The Faculty of Nursing is uniquely and strategically positioned to be one of the leaders in Canada, based on the talent that we’re trying to nurture and grow and the research we conduct.”

What made you pursue your VP role with CNA?

“I have been a board member of the Canadian Nurses Association since 2022. I decided that it was an opportune time to try and see how I can play more of a leading role in terms of advancing nursing policy so I decided to run to become the vice president of the Canadian Nurses Association.”

With you and Dr. Risling here, CNA now has two board of directors in the same faculty at the same institution. What does that say to you?

“More than 50 per cent of the executive committee of CNA now is not only at the University of Calgary but also at the same faculty. I think it speaks to the strengths that the University of Calgary has in terms of advancing knowledge, advocacy and innovation.”

Given your research expertise and background, what are some of your goals as CNA VP? 

“I’d like to ensure that equity, diversity and inclusion is infused in all stages of the CNA process to ensure that the CNA is responsive to the needs of each member. Also that it is responsive to changing policy, dynamics and policy challenges; to work on repositioning CNA as the recognized voice in nursing.”

What do you do in your free time? 

“If you know me, you know there’s no real time off [laughs]. When I was a younger, in high school, I always had a dream of creating a mentorship program for Black youth. Five years ago, I created a Black youth mentorship and leadership program to help kids economically and empower Black kids to contribute to Canadian society. If there’s anything I consider my academic baby, I’m always trying to nurture this.”