Maricela Caceres, MD
Program Manager for Cities for Better Health
Dr. Maricela Caceres is an accomplished healthcare professional who strategically oversees and coordinates comprehensive community health programs focused on expanding equitable access to essential care. She is committed to improving the lives of thousands of children and adults through community health education, chronic disease prevention, and advocacy. Dr. Caceres joined the Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center in Houston in 2023. She has more than 28 years of health and wellness experience, having practiced general medicine as a physician and surgeon in Colombia.
Her work experience in the public health setting started when she was a Health Education Specialist and then a Population Health Specialist for several years with the Duke Health System, where she gained experience working with underserved communities and mobilizing community leaders to work toward the same cause.
She currently serves as the program manager for Cities for Better Health-Houston (CBH-Houston), a global initiative with Novo Nordisk Inc. CBH-Houston is the anchor program of the Institute’s Center for Faith and Public Health. The Center for Faith and Public Health is one of four Centers of Excellence established by the Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center.
In her role as CHB-Houston program manager, Dr. Caceres strategically coordinates community-based programs to address root causes of Social Determinants of Health, enhancing healthcare accessibility, and measurably reducing the burden of chronic illnesses within the community. She moves beyond the program manager role to provide one-on-one coaching to faith community leaders, community ambassadors, and community health workers, offering them guidance on real-world challenges community leaders face in implementing health programs.
The CBH-Houston program launched in November 2014 with a comprehensive analysis of major gaps and vulnerabilities associated with diabetes. The program expanded to the prevention of other non-communicable conditions in 2024. Dr. Caceres was the first health professional to lead CBH-Houston since the program was launched. She has successfully scaled up and broadened the reach of the program. She promoted and led a Community Health Worker initiative, where she provided the first Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support Facilitators training specifically for these allied health professionals.
Dr. Caceres works closely with CBH-Houston partners, including the Houston Health Department, Harris County Public Health, Harris County Precincts 2 and 4, Harris Health, the HOPE Clinic, Harris County Medical Society, Fort Bend County Health and Human Services, Interfaith Ministries Houston, Aldine Independent School District and several prominent faith communities such as the Windsor Village Church Family and the North Houston District of the AME Church, among others.
Under Dr. Caceres’ leadership, CBH-Houston has positively impacted an estimated total of 4,746 individuals through outreach efforts, community events, training and educational sessions, advocacy efforts, and food distribution events in the greater Houston area.
Dr. Caceres was instrumental in organizing and launching the Institute’s inaugural Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Faith Community Leadership Cohort Program in June 2025. This FaithHealth Leadership cohort is a two-year intensive capacity-strengthening initiative designed to advance health equity and prevention across Houston's faith landscape. The program is delivered in close collaboration with the Houston Health Department's Office of Chronic Disease, Health Education, and Wellness.
She is equipping representatives of nine Houston area faith communities (including Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Vedic) to deploy new strategies, tools, and techniques for improving the health of their congregations.
Dr. Caceres regularly serves as a media source, guest speaker, and panelist on topics related to faith and public health. She was interviewed on KPRC TV Channel 2 and served as a panelist for the 2023 State of Diabetes Breakfast presented by the Institute for Spirituality and Health and the American Diabetes Association in Houston. She has also served as a speaker at the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Fall Conference hosted by Aldine ISD in 2023, and as a speaker for the Bite of Hope Culinary Institute in 2024 and 2025.
Dr. Caceres worked for 16 years at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., where she focused on the public health landscape and conducted clinical research as well.
In 2019, Dr. Caceres moved to Houston to work on phase I clinical trials at MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Clinical and Translational Cancer Center. She soon discovered her profound connection to the city of Houston. She worked with the Alzheimer’s Association for Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention in association with the Kelsey Seybold Research Foundation and Baylor Medical Center in Houston for three years.
Dr. Caceres earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Libre University in Colombia and practiced as a physician and surgeon before moving to the United States. She earned a Community Health Worker instructor certification from the Texas Department of State Health Services in 2024 and a national yoga teacher certification in 2023, 2024, and 2025 with the Yoga Institute.
When she is not working, Dr. Caceres enjoys traveling, hiking, camping, and cooking gourmet food and desserts. She plays the drums and is passionate about Brazilian rhythm music.