Shirley Gonzalez, MD, is a board-certified and fellowship-trained pediatrician with over 20 years of experience at Newton Pediatrics in Newton, Massachusetts. She specializes in obesity medicine and the management of menstrual disorders. Dr. Gonzalez is passionate about educating patients and their families about preventing adult chronic diseases that may originate during the fetal, neonatal, and childhood periods.
Dr. Gonzalez earned her bachelor’s degree with honors at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She then completed her medical degree at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, and her residency at the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Upon finishing medical school, Dr. Gonzalez continued her education in the field of menstrual disorders at the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska, in affiliation with Creighton University. She earned her FertilityCare practitioner certification and became a Naprotechnology® provider from the American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In 2016, Dr. Gonzalez also acquired an obesity medicine specialization.
Dr. Gonzalez devotes significant time to clinical research, medical student education, and administrative leadership roles, including serving as the past chief of the pediatric department at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. She founded the TEEEN® (Teens, Empowerment, Exercise, Education, Nutrition) Program to address pediatric obesity outside the clinical setting. A Harvard Macy Institute Scholar, in 2020 Dr. Gonzalez founded an Interprofessional Education Program at Newton Pediatrics. An award-winning researcher and doctor, Dr. Gonzalez received the Boston Business Journal Champion in Health Care Award for her innovative work as the founder and director of the TEEEN Program in 2009. A poster titled “Pediatric Empowerment Behavioral Program Positively Impacts BMI” presented at the 5 th Annual World Congress on Insulin Resistance Syndrome received a certificate of recognition. In addition, she received the El Planeta Award in recognition for her work with Hispanic population in 2012 and the Tisch College and Tufts University School of Medicine Community Service-Learning Faculty Award for outstanding commitment to civic engagement in medical education in 2016.
Dr. Gonzalez is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the Ambulatory Pediatric Society, the American College of Pediatricians, and the Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center. She is an associate member of the Brown University Chapter of Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society.
Dr. Gonzalez is affiliated with Boston Children’s Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Brighton, Massachusetts.