Salvatore studied medicine at the University of Naples Federico II and, after graduating, travelled to Paris to work at the Collège de France with the endocrinologist Jean Roche.
In 1961, he moved to Marseille before relocating again in 1962 to the United States, where he worked in Jacob Robbins and Joseph Edward Rall's laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, until 1964.
[1] Salvatore returned to Naples in 1964, where he hosted many foreign investigators, and continued to visit laboratories across Europe and the United States.
He headed the Centre of Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) from 1972 to 1997 and served as dean of the University of Naples Federico II medical school from 1981 to 1997.
[1] He successfully advocated for the introduction of iodised salt to prevent endemic goitre and universal newborn screening for congenital hypothyroidism in Italy.