Saltiel was born in
New Brunswick, New Jersey, US, and graduated from Edison High School. He holds an AB from
Duke University (1975) in zoology and a Ph.D. from the
University of North Carolina (1980) in biochemistry. He was a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion in Track and Field at Duke in the mile relay. During his doctorate studies in biochemistry at the University of North Carolina, Saltiel worked on
thyroid-stimulating hormone and its relationship to
thyroid cancer. As a post-doctoral fellow under
Pedro Cuatrecasas in the
Wellcome Research Laboratories, he began investigating insulin. He was distinguished research fellow and senior director of the department of cell biology at
Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research Division (now
Pfizer Global Research). In addition to having published more than 330 research papers, Saltiel holds 20 patents and has extensive experience with the FDA's testing and approval process for new drugs. Saltiel was the Mary Sue Coleman Director of the
Life Sciences Institute at the
University of Michigan; a professor at the Division of
Molecular Medicine and Genetics at the
University of Michigan Medical School; a faculty member at the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center; and John Jacob Abel Professor of Life Sciences, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology; a member of the Steering Committee Member at the Center for Advancing Research & Solutions for Society. He served as the director of the Life Sciences Institute from 2001 to 2015. He was also a John Jacob Abel Collegiate Professor of the Life Sciences at the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the UM Medical School. Saltiel's lab researches signaling pathways in
insulin action. Such research is aimed at identifying the various ways in which problems with the
insulin signaling pathway trigger
diabetes. Researchers in the lab have also uncovered new hormone signaling pathways and the role that
proteins and
genes play in this process. These discoveries may reveal how the insulin-glucose balance necessary for the survival of the cell is lost due to
obesity in those with
diabetes. ==Awards and achievements==