Rosa Maria Gil

Dr. Rosa Maria Gil is the founder, president, and CEO of Comunilife, Inc., a health and human services agency founded in 1989 to create a healthier tomorrow for children, adolescents, adults, seniors, and families living with mental illness, HIV, or AIDS in New York City’s diverse underserved communities. Comunilife helps them achieve self-sufficiency and a better quality of life in the community through safe and affordable housing, behavioral health care, and social services. Comunilife has been recognized for developing community-defined best practices for Latinos.

Dr. Gil served as health policy advisor to the mayor and health administrator of New York City and is a former chairperson of the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation. Dr. Gil is the former university dean for health sciences at the City University of New York.

Dr. Gil has published numerous articles on mental health, ethnicity, child welfare, and gender issues. She is the coauthor of The Maria Paradox, the first authoritative book on self-esteem and Hispanic women.