Maria S. Gomez, RN, MPH  
President & CEO, Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care

Maria S. Gomez, President and CEO of Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care founded the organization to build better futures through health care, education, and social services that embrace the culturally diverse community of Washington, D.C. Established in 1988 as a clinic to provide prenatal and postpartum care for primarily Latino women, the center has grown from an initial budget of $250,000 to an annual budget of $11.5 million. Mary's Center now serves more than 15,000 individuals and families from across the D.C. metropolitan area, establishing a full complement of programs to focus on holistic family needs.

In addition to the outstanding growth of Mary’s Center due to Maria’s efforts, Mrs. Gomez is the recipient of many awards including the Jessie Bernard Wise Woman Award from the Center for Women Policy Studies; the Hispanic Community Leadership Award from the Hispanic Employees Association; and Washingtonian of the Year as named by Washingtonian Magazine. In 2005 she received the Champion of Safe Motherhood Award from the White Ribbon Alliance National Workgroup on Safe Motherhood for her dedication and valuable contributions to ensuring safe motherhood for all women. For her dedication to helping save babies, March of Dimes granted Maria the You’re Our Start recognition award in January 2006.

Prior to establishing Mary’s Center, Maria worked for the DC Department of Health as a public health nurse. She worked with organizations such the Red Cross directing community education programming and disaster services and the Visiting Nurses Association.

Originally from Columbia, Maria immigrated with her mother at age 13 and attended the Washington, D.C. Public Schools. Maria and her mother were sponsored to come to the US and came specifically to insure that Maria had better educational opportunities. During Maria’s nursing program and hands-on clinical experience she was inspired to seek innovative ways to deliver culturally appropriate primary care services and to give back to her community.

Ms. Gomez obtained her BSN degree from Georgetown University and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley. She currently serves as a board member to the National Council of la Raza, the Meyer Foundation, the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and is the board chair for Council of Latino Agencies.

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