Salazar Allen was the first Panamanian to research bryophytes, and was instrumental in expanding the University of Panama's bryological collection to 10,000 specimens.

In 2013 she received the Riclef Grolle Award for Excellence in Bryodiversity Research from the International Association of Bryologists.

Salazar Allen was born in 1947 in the town of San Francisco, which is on the outskirts of Panama City.

[1] On her return to Panama, she was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Botany and began to systematically study and record the country's bryophytes.

[7] Subsequent research projects have included a revision of the liverwort genus Cyathodium at the suggestion of Hélène Bischler, and of the moss Octoblepharum.