Dr. Salter works as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences. She is the former director of Pittsburgh’s Birth Circle Community-Based Doula Program, a grass-roots non-profit working to improve maternal outcomes among low-income mothers in the region. During her time with the Birth Circle, Dr. Salter served as principal investigator when the program was awarded one of six national HRSA grants to expand and refine community-based doula services and to train community-based doulas.
Dr. Salter chose to pursue a doctoral degree in public health after working for many years with a community-based program focused on improving birth experiences and maternal health outcomes for women in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. In her work with the Birth Circle community-based doula program, her staff and the birthing people she served were invited to participate in maternity care research, yet the research questions under investigation did not always align with their interests or needs. This discrepancy pushed Dr. Salter to return to research so that she could develop research questions that reflect the priorities of birthing people in local communities.
Dr. Salter's initial research into birth trauma explored the experiences and perceptions of maternity care clinicians and has deepened her commitment to a human rights approach to maternity care.
As a member of the BCHS faculty, Dr. Salter continues her research into maternity care and birth experiences, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a member of the Maternity Health Equity Scholars program, and serves on the Allegheny County Health Department Infant Mortality Collaborative.
Dr. Salter has been teaching an undergraduate Introduction to Global Health course since 2016, and in 2020, she became the Interim Director of the Center for Global Health and began teaching core graduate Global Health courses, directing the Global Health Certificate and managing the Coverdell Fellowship. Outside of her maternity care research, Dr. Salter is a creative non-fiction writer interested in exploring the ways that individuals continue their lives and re-establish connection after experiencing trauma.
Naming Silence Naming Silence and Inadequate Obstetric Care as Obstetric Violence is a Necessary Step for Change (Violence Against Women)