Melissa Gonzales, PhD, MS

Dr. Melissa Gonzales received her Bachelor of Arts in chemistry, biology, and Spanish, and her Master of Science in Toxicology and Industrial Hygiene from the University of Arizona. She earned her doctorate in environmental health from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She also completed a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship in environmental epidemiology with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development.

Dr Gonzales is an exposure scientist with extensive research and education leadership experience in environmental and occupational public health and preventive medicine. She has led numerous federally funded Centers of Excellence in environmental health and health disparities research examining risk and resilience factors among underserved Native American, Latinx, rural, and marginalized communities. Notably, her team-science work is co-created with students and trainees from underrepresented groups in STEM and with community partners.

Dr. Gonzales has served on several National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine committees, including the recent Guidance on PFAS Testing and Health Outcomes Committee, which called for enhanced environmental health training and tracking programs for exposure surveillance. She is a member of the Environmental Justice Oversight Panel at the Health Effects Institute, Partnerships in Environmental Public Health at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, and leads the Weatherhead School Taskforce on Climate Change and Health at the Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.