Chef Carlos Gonzalez is currently the Senior Executive Chef at MD Anderson. He grew up in Houston and loved watching his grandmother cook in the kitchen. It was a place where the whole family would gather and create memories. During his high school years, he had the excellent opportunity to join the culinary program. He loved how it was a creative space and how fluid it felt. Over the years, he worked in hotels like Marriott and Sheraton, working his way up from station to station. After improving his culinary skills, he attended culinary school at The Art Institute of Houston. During this time, he was introduced to several great chefs from around the city and landed a job at Haven Seasonal Kitchen, where he experienced a true scratch kitchen and honed his skills, such as whole animal butchery. He decided to further his education and earned his bachelor's degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from the Conrad Hilton Program at The University of Houston. Upon graduation, he went to work for Pappas Restaurant, where he learned how the best in the business created production processes. After that, he became the Executive Chef at UT Southwestern in Dallas and Fort Worth ISD. It was there that he began to focus on nutrition and healthy eating programs.