About Me
“I am passionate about promoting health equity among under-resourced populations by addressing health-related social needs, such as food insecurity and increasing diversity in medicine.”
At Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Dr. Montez is an associate professor of general academic pediatrics and social sciences and health policy. She is the associate program director for the Pediatric Residency program, co-director of the Health Equity Certificate Program and director of the Health Justice Advocacy Certificate Program in conjunction with the Wake Forest University School of Law.
Additionally, Dr. Montez is the associate director in pediatrics of integrating special populations for the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity. Within the department of pediatrics, she is the vice chair for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.
Dr. Montez is board certified in pediatrics. She is an educator and health services researcher who focuses on child health, advocacy and equity for under-resourced groups.
Her research interests include community engagement, food insecurity and social determinants of health, health equity, health policy and immigrant health.
Dr. Montez co-authors policy statements for the American Academy of Pediatrics and serves as a liaison to its Committee for Federal Governmental Affairs. She serves on the advocacy committee for the Society for Pediatric Research and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Academic Pediatric Association. Previously, she has been active on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Consensus Committee on Programs and Policies to Reduce Intergenerational Poverty.
She is an associate editor for diversity, equity, inclusion and justice for the journal Pediatrics.
Dr. Montez completed her undergraduate studies at Yale University and received her medical degree at Stanford University. She received a master’s degree in public health at Harvard University.