Ginetta Salvalaggio, MD, MSc, CCFP(AM)

Area of Study / Keywords

participatory research community engagement social determinants of health substance use primary care

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About

I am a Professor and Research Co-Director in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. I also serve as the Associate Scientific Director of the Inner City Health and Wellness Program; the Canadian co-chair of NAPCRG's Participatory Health Research working group (Committee on Advancing Science in Family Medicine); Research Director representation of the CFPC's Section of Researchers Council; and Medical Director, Health Equity-Urban Underserved with the Physician Learning Program. 

My academic and clinical work focuses on social determinants of health, community engagement, substance use, and the care of structurally vulnerable populations. I also work on systems innovation in response to public health emergencies and partner closely with equity-seeking communities and front-line care providers.

My education path includes earning an MD and MSc in Population Health from the University of Alberta, residency training in rural Family Medicine, a Certificate of Added Competence in Addiction Medicine, and a Fellowship in Health System Improvement.

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Research

My research is grounded in participatory approaches and a commitment to health equity for structurally vulnerable populations, particularly people who use drugs. I lead complexity-informed, collaborative, interdisciplinary projects that improve care transitions, advance harm mitigation strategies, and promote patient and community involvement in health system innovation. Building strong partnerships with clinicians, researchers, people with lived and living experience, and community agencies has been central to my work.

Currently, I focus on evaluating substance use interventions, promoting evidence-based policies and guidelines, and pursuing participatory research to improve acute and primary care for currently underserved urban populations. My approach brings together diverse perspectives to create practical solutions for complex health challenges, with a priority on social accountability and real-world impact.

Recent Publications

McBeth R, Sandberg C, Varewny V, Piggott B, Ajani A, Auger S, Campbell-Scherer D, Dong K, Hyshka E, Srinivasan C, Twan S, Umpherville L, Salvalaggio G. Co-creating health system innovation with people who use drugs. Harm Reduct J 22,176 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-025-01326-5

Speed KA, Bwala H, Gehring ND, Ahmed M, Dong K, Lail P, Twan S, Harvey G, McLane P, Salvalaggio G, Wild TC, Dmitrienko K, Hathaway J, Hyshka E. The relationship between COVID-19 and opioid-related emergency department visits in Alberta, Canada: an interrupted time series analysis. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada: Research, Policy and Practice. 2025;45(9):347-356. doi: 10.24095/hpcdp.45.9.01 

Collins ZKD, Hyshka E, Lavergne KJ, Weber SM, Salvalaggio G, Xue CJ, et al. Physician perspectives on reducing harm and supporting emergency department patients who use drugs. PLoS One 2025;20(7): e0327899. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327899 

Piccinini-Vallis H, Archibald D, Gruneir A, Paquette JS, Ramsden V, Selby P, Singer A, Terry A, Vedel I, Salvalaggio G. Equipping Family Physicians to Thrive: Scholarship as a Core Competency. Can Fam Phys 2025;71(6):e105-107. DOI: 10.46747/cfp.7106e105

Yusuf A, Salvalaggio G, Melamed O, Montesanti S, Atherton A, Langford L, et al. Developing standards for virtual delivery of mental health services in Canadian primary care: a qualitative study and modified Delphi process. PLOS Mental Health 2024;1(5): e0000071. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000071 

Ekeleme N, Yusuf A, Kastner M, Waite K, Montesanti S, Atherton H, Salvalaggio G, et al. Guidelines and recommendations about virtual mental health services from high-income countries: a rapid review. BMJ Open 2024;14:e079244. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079244 

Brooks HL, Speed KA, Dong K, Salvalaggio G, Pauly B, Taylor M, Hyshka E. Perspectives of patients who inject drugs on a needle and syringe program at a large acute care hospital. PLOS ONE 2024 19(2): e0297584. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297584

Salvalaggio G, Brooks H, Caine V, Gagnon M, Godley J, Houston S, et al. Flawed Reports Can Harm: The Case of Supervised Consumption Services in Alberta. Can J Public Health  2023 Nov. DOI: 10.17269/s41997-023-00825-x   

Waters E, Nowak DA, Salvalaggio G, Sirianni G. Big Ideas (Complexity Thinking Should Be a Bedrock of Family Medicine). Can Fam Phys Feb 2023,69(2):84-85. DOI: 10.46747/cfp.690284

Gehring ND, Speed K, Wild TC, Pauly B, Salvalaggio G, Hyshka E. Policy actor views on structural vulnerability in harm reduction and policymaking for illegal drugs: A qualitative study. Int J Drug Policy 108, 103805. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103805

Gehring ND, Speed K, Dong KA, Pauly B, Salvalaggio G, Hyshka E. Social service providers’ perspectives on caring for structurally vulnerable hospital patients who use drugs: a qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research 22(1), 1-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08498-x 

Salvalaggio G, Hyshka E, Brown C, Pinto A, Halas G, Green LA, et al. A Comparison of the COVID-19 Response for Urban Underserved Patients Experiencing Healthcare Transitions in Three Canadian Cities. Can J Pub Health (2022). https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00651-7  

Brooks HL, Salvalaggio G, Pauly B, Dong K, Bubela T, Taylor M, and Hyshka E. "I have such a hard time hitting myself, I thought it'd be easier": Perspectives of hospitalized patients on injecting drugs into vascular access devices. Harm Reduct J 2022 May;19(54). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-022-00637-1 

Salvalaggio, G., Ferguson, L., Brooks, H.L., Campbell, S., Gladue, V., Hyshka, E., Lam, L., et al. Impact of health system engagement on the health and well-being of people who use drugs: a realist review protocol. Syst Rev 11, 66 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-01938-z 

Salvalaggio G, Dong KA, Hyshka E, McCabe C, Nixon L, Rosychuk RJ, et al. Impact of an Addiction Medicine Consult Team Intervention in a Canadian Inner City Hospital on Acute Care Utilization: A Pragmatic Quasi-Experimental Study. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 17, 20 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-022-00445-7 

Other outputs

October 2025: Opinion Column, Edmonton Journal. Cuts have left Edmonton’s homeless with nowhere to go. Co-authored with Asha Ajani, Renée McBeth, and Elaine Hyshka.  

September 2025: Guest blog, Friends of Medicare. More cuts for people on AISH. Co-authored with Petra Schulz.  

January 2025: Opinion Column, Edmonton Journal. Let’s Listen to Those Impacted by Toxic Drugs to Help End the Crisis . Co-authored with Campion Cottrell-McDermott, Bethany Piggott, Heather Morris, and Elaine Hyshka. 

2022: Opinion Column, Edmonton Journal. Off-ramp to drug crisis? It’s safe supply, supported housing, and voluntary treatment. Co-authored with Euan Thompson and Petra Schulz.  

2022: Opinion Column, The Globe and Mail. As Physicians, the “Safe Supply” of Opioids is One of the Best Tools We Have to Tackle Canada’s Drug-Poisoning Crisis. Co-authored with Bonnie Larson and Claire Bodkin. 

August 2024: Evidence brief Co-Author, “Health Harms Caused by Continual Displacement of Unhoused People.” Available at https://www.ichwp.ca/resources 

2021 – 2022: Co-Chair, Opioid Poisoning Committee, Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association. Activities included public awareness campaigns, physician education sessions, communication with policy actors, literature and epidemiology review, consultation with lived experience and front line stakeholders, and development of formal policy recommendations.

2025: Podcast contributor, “Supervised Consumption Sites - Where Harm Reduction And Community Care Meet”, “Real Doctors Real Friends” podcast, University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.  

2023: Podcast contributor, “Stigma and Harm Reduction”, “Pharmacy Perspectives: Providing Safer Spaces” series, University of Saskatchewan and Alberta College of Pharmacy.  

Recent Peer-reviewed Funding

July 2025: Co-Investigator, “Co-design Beyond Pandemics: New Models for Research in Design and Health.” $22,920 over 1 year in Connection Grant funding from Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Gillian Harvey PI.

June 2025: Co-Investigator, “Examining the perceptions and experiences of women and gender-diverse people who have survived a drug poisoning/overdose in Edmonton’s inner city.” $24,927 over 1 year in Partnership Engage Grant funding from Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Heather Morris PI. 

February 2025: Co-Investigator, “Supporting Healthy Partnerships with People Who Use Drugs: Toolkit Mobilization.” $10,000 over 1 year in project development grant funding from the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Matters (CRISM) Prairie Node. Gillian Harvey PI.

January 2025: Academic Co-Investigator, “Multicultural ConneXt.” $250,000 over 1 year in Community Safety and Well-Being funding from City of Edmonton. Alberta Alliance Who Educate and Advocate Responsibly (AAWEAR) NPI. 

September 2024: Co-Principal Investigator, “Advancing health equity and reducing drug-related harm through health systems innovation research.” $205,523 over 5 years in John R. Evans Leaders Fund funding from Canada Foundation for Innovation and Alberta Jobs, Economy and Innovation. Elaine Hyshka PI, Kathryn Dong co-I. 

September 2024: Co-Investigator, “Towards Culturally Safe Partnerships for Indigenous People Who Use Drugs.” $10,000 over 1 year in Research Development Grant funding from Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Matters (CRISM) Prairie Node. Renée McBeth PI; Kathryn Dong, Elaine Hyshka co-Is.

May 2024: Co-Investigator, “Critical Approaches to Indigenous Relationality.” $2,500,000 over 6 years in Partnership Grant funding from Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Co-directors: Shalene Jobin, Jessie Loyer, Matthew Wildcat, Daniel Voth, Gina Starblanket. Sub-grant $40,000 awarded in years 1-2: “Towards Culturally Safe Partnership for Indigenous People Who Use Drugs.” Sub-grant P.I. Ginetta Salvalaggio; subgrant Co-PIs: Elaine Hyshka, Renée McBeth.

July 2023: Principal Investigator, “Supporting Healthy Partnerships with People Who Use Drugs: An Educational Intervention.” $15,000 over 1 year in D.M. Robb Community-Based Research Grant funding from the Foundation for Advancing Family Medicine. V Gladue, A Robinson, G Harvey, J Kirkwood, O Babenko co-Is.

March 2023: Principal Investigator, “Addressing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on People Who Use Drugs Through Health System Innovation.” $194,369 over 2 years in Patient-Oriented Research Training Grant - Health System Stream funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Boyle Street Services Society NPI; S Twan, M Taylor, L Umpherville PKUs; E Hyshka, KA Dong co-Is. 

September 2022: Co-Principal Investigator, “Understanding the Short- and Long-Term Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on People Who Use Substances in Edmonton's Inner City.” $117,424 over 1 year from Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation. E. Hyshka PI.

July 2022: Co-Investigator, “Evaluating the impact of a novel acute care-based supervised injection service on patient outcomes.” $661,726 over 5 years in Project Grant funding from Canadian Institutes for Health Research. E. Hyshka PI.

June 2022: Co-Investigator, “Canadian ADAptive Platform Trial of COVID-19 Therapeutics in Community Settings (Can-ADAPT COVID).” $10,000,000 over 1 year in Operating Grant: COVID-19 Outpatient Therapeutic Studies funding from Canadian Institutes for Health Research. A. Pinto PI.

March 2022: Co-Investigator, “Developing Canadian national standards for virtual delivery of mental health services within primary care.” $92,650 over 1 year in Catalyst grant: Quadruple Aim and Equity funding from Canadian Institutes for Health Research. B. O’Neill PI.

August 2021: Principal Investigator, “Impact of Health System Engagement on the Health and WellBeing of People Who Use Drugs: A Realist Review.” $4500 over 1 year from the Northern Alberta Academic Family Medicine Fund Committee.

July 2021: Evaluation Co-Lead, “Building Community Capacity to Address the COVID Social Pandemic: Primary care and community partnerships in advocacy.” $249,888.91 over 18 months in COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Impact Grant (Co-RIG) Program – Phase II funding from the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s Foundation for Advancing Family Medicine. G. Bloch PI.

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Teaching

I act as a bedside clinical teacher, small group facilitator, and faculty advisor to medical students, residents, and other health professional trainees, many of whom have identified special interests in addiction medicine, social determinants of health, and obstetrics. My emphasis throughout has been on ensuring their acquisition of non-biomedical core competencies required to function as modern healthcare professionals—competencies such as patient engagement, relational practice, complex systems, advocacy, and practice-based scholarship. My trainees have gone on to provide clinical services and healthcare leadership in underserved settings in urban and rural/remote Canada and internationally. I am also an active contributor to continuing professional development activities in my discipline.

As a research educator, I am responsible for the family medicine residency program's research curriculum. I supervise summer students, resident researchers, graduate practicum students, graduate research assistants, and postdoctoral fellows. I have also served thesis co-supervisor, committee member, and external examiner for masters-level graduate students. My lab has produced several highly qualified professionals who have subsequently accepted employment positions within the health system, non-profit organizations, government, and academia. Perhaps most importantly, I continue to provide mentorship and support to lived and living experience colleagues.

Gehring N.D., Speed K.A., Dong K., Pauly B., Salvalaggio G., Hyshka E.

BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH. 2022 September; 22 (1):1138 10.1186/s12913-022-08498-x

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Gehring N.D., Speed K.A., Wild T.C., Pauly B., Salvalaggio G., Hyshka E.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY. 2022 July; 108 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103805

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Salvalaggio G., Hyshka E., Brown C., Pinto A.D., Halas G., Green L., Kosteniuk B., Perri M., Le Chalifoux N., Halas G., Steiner L., Cavett T., Montesanti S.

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH-REVUE CANADIENNE DE SANTE PUBLIQUE. 2022 June; 10.17269/s41997-022-00651-7

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Brooks H.L., Salvalaggio G., Pauly B., Dong K., Bubela T., Taylor M., Hyshka E.

Harm Reduction Journal. 2022 May; 19 (1) 10.1186/s12954-022-00637-1

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International Journal of Integrated Care. 2022 May; http://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.ICIC21210

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Salvalaggio G., Ferguson L., Brooks H.L., Campbell S., Gladue V., Hyshka E., Lam L., Morris H., Nixon L., Springett J.

Systematic Reviews. 2022 April; 11 (1) 10.1186/s13643-022-01938-z

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Annals of Family Medicine. 2022 April; 10.1370/afm.20.s1.3025

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Salvalaggio G., Dong K.A., Hyshka E., McCabe C., Nixon L., Rosychuk R.J., Dmitrienko K., Krajnak J., Mrklas K., Wild T.C.

Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention and Policy. 2022 March; 17 (1) 10.1186/s13011-022-00445-7

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Kosteniuk B., Salvalaggio G., Wild T.C., Gelberg L., Hyshka E.

DRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW. 2021 December; 41 (4):830-840 10.1111/dar.13417

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Kosteniuk B., Salvalaggio G., McNeil R., Brooks H.L., Dong K., Twan S., Brouwer J., Hyshka E.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY. 2021 October; 96 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103275

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McBrien K.A., Nguyen V., Garcia-Jorda D., Rondeau K., Polachek A., Kamran H., Lang E., Ghali W., Barnabe C., Braun T., McLane P., Milaney K., Ronksley P.E., Salvalaggio G., Spackman E., Tang K.L., Williamson T., Fabreau G.

Frontiers in Public Health. 2021 October; 9 10.3389/fpubh.2021.605695

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Kosteniuk B., Salvalaggio G., McNeil R., Brooks H.L., Dong K., Twan S., Brouwer J., Hyshka E.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY. 2021 May; 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103275

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Dong KA, Lavergne KJ, Salvalaggio G, Weber SM, Xue CJ, Kestler A, et al

JACEP Open. 2021 April; 2 (2) 10.1002/emp2.12409

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Magwood O., Hanemaayer A., Saad A., Salvalaggio G., Bloch G., Moledina A., Pinto N., Ziha L., Geurguis M., Aliferis A., Kpade V., Arya N., Aubry T., Pottie K.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020 October; 17 (21):1-18 10.3390/ijerph17217938

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View additional publications

• Inner City Health and Wellness Program