Melissa Gonzales, PhD
Full Member
Cancer Population Sciences Research Program
Associate Professor
Internal Medicine, Division of Epidemiology
Biography
Melissa Gonzales joined the Division in 2002. She was recruited from the EPA where she had been a postdoctoral research fellow in the Epidemiology and Biomarkers Division of the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, EPA Office of Research and Development. While at EPA she was the co-PI of the El Paso Children’s Health Study, and senior staff to the US-chair of the US-Mexico Border 21 Environmental Health Workgroup.
She received her PhD in environmental health at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and prior to that she earned a Masters degree in toxicology/industrial hygiene at the University of Arizona, College of Pharmacy.
Research focus (interests and expertise)
Dr. Gonzales has focused on understanding the contribution of environmental exposures to chronic illnesses such as asthma and kidney disease. Her work includes the Albuquerque Hispanic Moms Study, the Zuni Exposure Study, and the UNM-UTEP ARCH study of asthma and air pollution among children living on the US-Mexico border. Recently Dr. Gonzales has expanded her research to examine the role of gene-environment interactions in melanoma skin cancer.