Gonzales, Melissa

Dr. Gonzales is the incoming Chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.   Dr. Gonzales' community-engaged, translational research focuses on understanding the contribution of environmental exposure to health disparities and translating research for health equity and informed decision-making. She comes to Tulane from the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Medicine, where her research and leadership spanned funded Centers of Excellence in environmental health and health disparities research. At UNM she was an Associate Vice Chancellor for DEI at the UNM Health Sciences Center, a founding faculty member of the UNM Preventive Medicine Residency Program, and an instructor in the undergraduate medical education and public health programs.  She received her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies: Chemistry, Biology and Spanish and M.S. in Toxicology/Industrial Hygiene from the University of Arizona. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Health from the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the USEPA National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in the Agency's Office of Research and Development.  She has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and technical reports. Dr. Gonzales’ has served on several National Academies of Science committees, including the committee on PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’, which developed the recently published Guidance on PFAS Exposure, Testing and Clinical Follow-up.