From 1981 to 1986 De Salvo was a curator at the Dia Art Foundation in New York.[5]
De Salvo served as Senior Curator at Tate Modern in London, where she worked from 1999 to 2004.[6][7] During her time at Tate Modern, she organized exhibitions on Giorgio Morandi, Andy Warhol, and one of the Turbine Hall commissions, "The Unilever Series: Anish Kapoor (2002)."[8]
De Salvo came to the Whitney in 2004 and became the first to become promoted to Chief Curator in 2006.[9] In this capacity, she organized exhibitions on artists like Warhol, Hélio Oiticica, Michael Heizer, and Steve McQueen, among others.[10] In July 2015, she became the Deputy Director for International Initiatives at the Whitney, a new position created to source and cultivate international relationships for the museum.[11]