Chair
Medical Director, Adult Specialties – Presbyterian Medical Group
Denise Gonzales, MD, is the Medical Director Adult Medical Specialties at Presbyterian Medical Group, as well as a pulmonary and critical care physician for Presbyterian Medical Group.
Dr. Gonzales, who works with patients with breathing disorders and those who need critical care, joined the organization in 2007. She was the founding medical director of Presbyterian’s first 21st century hospital, Presbyterian Rust Medical Center. In her role as medical director of Adult Medical Specialties, she leads a group of physicians who deliver highly specialized care to adults.
Dr. Gonzales is a member of the board of The ASK Academy, a science, technology, engineering and math innovation school in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. She has also been inducted as a Fellow in the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Dr. Gonzales was born and raised along the U.S.-Mexico border in rural southern New Mexico. Her childhood experiences engendered a passion for improving the lives of others, in particular the disadvantaged.
After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biomedical engineering, she earned her medical degree from the University of New Mexico and completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center. She then completed the joint National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship program.
Dr. Gonzales thrives in her hospital-based clinical practice, as a bedside educator and physician leader. Her mission to improve the health of all New Mexicans includes changing the way we deliver care, by using telemedicine to access rural communities and focusing on population health.
