{"id":48120,"date":"2025-10-24T14:17:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/truecare.org\/?p=48120"},"modified":"2025-10-24T14:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:17:30","slug":"csusm-alumna-took-unorthodox-path-to-leading-local-health-care-staple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/truecare.org\/blog\/csusm-alumna-took-unorthodox-path-to-leading-local-health-care-staple\/","title":{"rendered":"CSUSM &#8211; Alumna Took Unorthodox Path to Leading Local Health Care Staple"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Michelle Gonzalez was a Cal State San Marcos student only about a month away from graduating in 2003 when she started working for an organization then called North County Health Services.<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>Her degree (communication) was unrelated to health care, and Gonzalez had no intention of staying in the field. The main appeal of the job was that it was close to her home and the university.  <\/p>\n<p>Beginning her journey as a program assistant in an entry-level role, Gonzalez quickly developed a fondness for the local nonprofit and its high-minded mission: providing quality health care and wellness services to underserved communities, regardless of income or insurance status. Her early connection to community health mirrored CSUSM\u2019s commitment to accelerating social mobility through leaders who serve with purpose. <\/p>\n<p>What Gonzalez imagined to be a brief pit stop instead turned into a rewarding career, and over two decades, she climbed the rungs all the way to the top \u2013 she was appointed president and CEO in 2020, the same year that North County Health Services was reborn as TrueCare.   <\/p>\n<p>To learn more about Michelle&#8217;s story, check out the Cal State San Marcos website&#8230;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.csusm.edu\/alumna-took-unorthodox-path-to-leading-local-health-care-staple\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read more<\/a><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/news.csusm.edu\/alumna-took-unorthodox-path-to-leading-local-health-care-staple\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7014 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/truecare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/truecare-read-the-article-svg-buttons-blog-304x54-1.svg\" alt=\"truecare read the article button\" width=\"300\" height=\"57\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n&nbsp; <\/p>\n<h2>Find a TrueCare Location:<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/truecare.org\/locations\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7014 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/truecare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/truecare-schedule-find-a-location-svg-buttons-blog-304x54-1.svg\" alt=\"truecare find a location button\" width=\"300\" height=\"57\"><\/a><\/p>\n<span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michelle Gonzalez was a Cal State San Marcos student only about a month away from graduating in 2003 when she started working for an organization then called North County Health [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":48122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CSUSM - Alumna Took Unorthodox Path to Leading Local Health Care Staple - TrueCare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michelle Gonzalez was a Cal State San Marcos student only about a month away from graduating in 2003 when she started working for an organization then called North County Health Services.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/truecare.org\/blog\/csusm-alumna-took-unorthodox-path-to-leading-local-health-care-staple\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CSUSM - Alumna Took Unorthodox Path to Leading Local Health Care Staple - TrueCare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michelle Gonzalez was a Cal State San Marcos student only about a month away from graduating in 2003 when she started working for an organization then called North County Health Services.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TrueCare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/healthtruecare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-24T21:17:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/truecare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/truecare-news-csusm-michelle-gonzalez-featured-image-blog-700x466-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"466\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shannon Mbuthia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@healthtruecare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@healthtruecare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shannon Mbuthia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truecare.org\/blog\/csusm-alumna-took-unorthodox-path-to-leading-local-health-care-staple\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truecare.org\/blog\/csusm-alumna-took-unorthodox-path-to-leading-local-health-care-staple\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Shannon Mbuthia\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truecare.org\/#\/schema\/person\/d7b523d5dae4e25b689b6b9cd100f742\"},\"headline\":\"CSUSM &#8211; 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