Maria Fernanda Gutierrez

Maria is a program manager for the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum. She works closely with the C4H team to provide technical assistance, strategic planning and program development support to CBO’s. Her existing role enables her to collaborate with community partners and subject matter experts on cross-sectional efforts focused on promoting racial equity, TB/Hep B elimination, and community resilience.

Prior to her time at APIAHF, she served as a CDC Public Health Advisor for the California Department of Public Health specializing in Tuberculosis Control and Prevention. Her team primarily worked on responding to high-priority outbreak investigations and providing technical support to LHDs and TB programs across the state.

Maria is a first-generation graduate from the University of Florida where she earned her B.S and MPH. Throughout her career, Maria has had the privilege of serving in a mixture of environments across the public health spectrum ranging from prenatal care and neurosurgery to clinical research and health communications. However, it was the product of her lived experiences navigating her family through the healthcare system that fostered her inherent proclivity for health equity and social change. Her hope is to continue to support the sustainability of a public health infrastructure that is more equitable, patient-centered and culturally competent.

On her spare time, Maria enjoys painting, making music, creating resin art and editing travel videos.