Maria S. Gomez, RN, MPH
President & CEO

Maria S. Gomez, a native of Colombia, South America, has led Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care since its beginning 15 years ago, and has been responsible for the phenomenal growth of the Center’s activities in providing health care and related services to the underserved women, children, and adolescents of the District of Columbia. Mary’s Center began as a clinic to provide prenatal and postpartum care for the primarily Latino women of Ward 1 and has grown from an initial budget of $250,000 to an annual budget of nearly $8 million. Mary's Center now serves more than 5,200 individuals and families from across the metropolitan area, and has established a full complement of programs to support its mission, which is to build better futures through health care, education, and social services that embrace our culturally diverse community.

In addition to the outstanding work Gomez has accomplished at Mary’s Center, she has received many awards both for herself and on behalf of the Center, including the Jessie Bernard Wise Woman Award from the Center for Women Policy Studies; the Hispanic Community Leadership Award from the Hispanic Employees Association; Washingtonian of the Year as named by Washingtonian magazine; and the Hugh A. Johnson, Jr., Memorial Award from the Hispanic Bar Association of DC. As recognition for her outstanding leadership skills and management team, in 1999 Mary’s Center received the Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management. Gomez was also named finalist to the prestigious Bender Prize and in 1999 became an Honorary Inductee of Sigma Theta Tau, the Honorary Society of Nursing. In 2001 she received the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Conversation Changers Award and also was recognized by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for her leadership in providing access to care for Latina women and their children. In 2002 Gomez received the Champions of Choice Award from Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington.

Guadalupe Pacheco, MSW
Board Chair

Guadalupe Pacheco serves as a Public Health Advisor and Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, US Department of Health and Human Services. Pacheco has occupied mid-level and senior level management positions in state and federal government agencies, as well as nonprofit organizations, focusing on health and human services program and policy issues. His work has included designing and implementing service delivery programs for diverse populations, developing and executing annual budgets exceeding $20 million, managing annual procurement activities ranging from $25,000 to $11 million, and providing oversight of the human resources staffing and training requirements in a variety of human services settings.

In his current capacity as Special Assistant to the Director for Minority Health, Pacheco is responsible for managing multiple projects that address health disparities of racial and ethnic minority communities. He coordinates cultural competency activities through the Office of Minority Health’s Center for Linguistic and Cultural Competence in Health Care. Additionally, he staffs and coordinates the implementation requirements of the Department’s Hispanic Agenda for Action Initiative, which serves to enhance service delivery to Hispanic Americans.

In addition to his role on the board of directors of Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care, Pacheco serves on the advisory committee of the National Center on Cultural Competence, the advisory committee of the National Hispanic Medical Association’s Resident Leadership Program, the advisory committee of the National Epilepsy Foundation’s Diversity and Accessibility Initiative, and the advisory committee of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Hablamos Juntos: Improving Patient Provider Communication for Latinos Program initiative.

Pacheco received his BA and MSW from California State University of Fresno.


Miryam C. Granthon, MPH
Vice Chair

Miryam C. Granthon, a native of Callao, Peru, is a public health analyst in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Granthon arrived in Washington, DC in 1996 with the support of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Edward Roybal Public Health Fellowship. Prior to moving to DC, she was a graduate social work student at Boston University. After completing her fellowship, she and her fellow alumni created the CHCI Alumni Association. Granthon was recruited to the board of Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care by a previous chair, Virginia Apodaca, and has been on the board for six years. In addition to serving as the vice chair of the board, Granthon chairs the committee on program and quality assurance. Granthon is also an executive officer of the American Public Health Association, Latino Caucus and is the chair of the local host planning committee. Granthon completed her master's in public health training at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She’s also a 1993 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, School of Communications with a minor in economics. Granthon is also a past board member of MANA, A National Latina Organization and is an executive board member of the GALA Theatre and chair of the “Take a Seat Campaign.”