Jessica Salem

Jessica Salem is the executive director of the Center for Health Equity at Dayton Children's where she is responsible for the strategic design, implementation, and evaluation of health equity efforts for the hospital.  

Salem started working at Dayton Children’s in 2007 and has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the hospital’s community health and engagement programs. Innovative programs under her direction include the Dayton Asthma Alliance, Kiser Neighborhood Schools Center, Family Resource Coordinator and 21st Century After-School program, and the hospital’s social needs screening and follow-up programming. Previously she was the Community Relations Manager at Dayton Children’s where she developed and directed a number of programs including the Kohl’s A Minute for Kids program, Safe Kids Greater Dayton and the Mead Westvaco Family Resource Center. She is also the director responsible for the Dayton Children’s Regional Pediatric Health Assessment which is used to set the children’s health and safety agenda for the hospital.

Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations and a Masters in public administration, both from the University of Dayton. Jessica was named by Dayton Business Journal in 2012 as one of their Forty Under 40  top young professionals in the Dayton region. In 2023, she received a Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton. She is a past president of the Junior League of Dayton and currently serves on multiple boards including the Board of Governors for Leadership Dayton and the Five Rivers Metroparks Commission. 

topics for media interviews:

• Health equity
• Dayton Asthma Alliance
• Social needs screening 
• Community health programming 
• Pediatric Health Assessment
• Population health
• Community engagement

If you are interested in speaking to one of our leaders or experts at Dayton Children's please contact the marketing communications department at 937-641-3666.