Dr. Gonzales was recently selected to serve as the Executive Director of the American College of Dentists. In 2013, she retired from the United States Army Dental Corps after a long and distinguished career in active federal service to this Nation. Prior to her retirement, she was a nominative selection as the Director of Strategic Communications for the Army Surgeon General. She has commanded formations in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Theresa graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of Charleston with a B.S. in Chemistry and received her D.M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina. Colonel Gonzales began her military career at Fort Jackson, South Carolina as a resident in the Advanced Education in General Dentistry program. She then completed a residency training program in oral and maxillofacial pathology in 1992 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. In 2006, she completed a two-year fellowship in Orofacial Pain at the Naval Postgraduate Dental School and completed a Master of Science in Health Care from George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Dr. Gonzales has earned Fellowship status with the American Academy of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, the American Academy of Oral Medicine, and the Academy of General Dentistry. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and the American Board of Orofacial Pain. She holds Diplomate status as well as with the American Board of Forensic Examiners and the American Board of Forensic Medicine. She is a Fellow of both the American College and International College of Dentists. Dr. Gonzales’s diverse professional background includes tours as staff assigned to Oral Surgery, Hanau, Germany, Force Dental Surgeon, Multinational Peace Keeping Force in El Gorah, Egypt as well as Chief, of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
Dr. Gonzales has authored over seventy-five scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and was the recipient of the International College of Dentists Award for Excellence in Research. She has received the Order of Military Medical Merit and the Surgeon General’s A designator for clinical excellence. She graduated with distinction from the United States Army War College in 2008. Theresa is also a Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology at the Medical University of South Carolina- James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine.