Background & Bio
Dr. Janis Gonzales is a pediatrician and public health physician and currently works as the Chief Health Officer for the New Mexico (NM) Early Childhood Education and Care Department, one of the few department-level agencies in the country dedicated to the prenatal to five population. Prior to taking on this role, Dr. Gonzales served as the Maternal Child Health Director/Title V Director in the New Mexico Department of Health, where she had oversight of several programs, including Children’s Medical Services, Families FIRST, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Family Planning, Maternal Child Health Epidemiology, and Maternal and Child Health.

Dr. Gonzales received her Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Illinois, her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of New Mexico, and is Board Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), received the 2017 Early Childhood Champion “Unsung Hero” Award from the AAP, and received a Special Achievement Award in 2021 for service to the mission of the AAP.

Dr. Gonzales served as President of the NM Pediatric Society (NM Chapter of the AAP) from 2019-2021, and has served for 12 years as the AAP Early Childhood Chapter Champion in NM. She has also served for ten years on the Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC) which advises and assists the Family Infant Toddler (FIT) program for early intervention services in NM. She served for three years on the advisory board of the Prenatal to Three Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt and is a founding board member of Hero’s Path Palliative Care.