Gallup Physician Valory Wangler Named 2026 Remarkable Woman, Expanded Access

KRQE News 13 named Dr. Valory Wangler the 2026 "Remarkable Woman of New Mexico" for her role as co-founder and founding executive director of Gallup Community Health and for expanding primary care access in Gallup and McKinley County. The physician-led nonprofit clinic treated about 3,000 patients since it opened in August 2022 and was described as being on its way to becoming an FQHC Look-Alike, a designation that would qualify the clinic for federal aid including drug pricing discounts.

Gallup, a former railroad hub of about 21,000 residents just a few miles from the Navajo Nation, faces a large primary care shortage: GCH states that Gallup and McKinley County represent the New Mexico county with the largest primary care provider deficit according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. The award spotlights a local response to those gaps at a time when primary care capacity remains a community concern.

Wangler has lived and worked in McKinley County, in Zuni and Gallup, since 2010. The GCH profile notes, "Living and working in McKinley County (Zuni and Gallup) since 2010, Dr. Wangler considers Gallup home and is committed to improving the health of our community." Her résumé for local health leadership includes founding the Family Medicine residency program at RMCHCS, serving as Chief Medical Officer at RMCHCS during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and serving as Regional Associate Dean for the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine. The GCH site also records that she "was recently named Physician of the Year by the New Mexico Society for Hospital Medicine 2021."

The clinic grew out of turmoil at RMCHCS (Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital/System). After RMCHCS's board hired an out-of-state, for-profit management services firm to take over operations in August 2020, nearly a third of the staff, including Wangler, left. Wangler and several former co-workers decided to open a physician-led, nonprofit clinic; KFF reported the founders met in Wangler's backyard and opened GCH's stucco office space just a block from historic U.S. Route 66 in August 2022.

Community backing helped the clinic survive its early months. A statewide hospital system donated equipment, Gallup residents raised $30,000, and more than half the doctors volunteered their time or asked not to be paid until the clinic was operating in the black. Wangler told reporters, "One of the things that the staff committed to from the beginning was doing what was right for the patient and figuring out finances later."

Gallup Community Health describes its Steering Committee as "comprised of three local physicians and a long-time healthcare programs development leader" and invites learners and applicants to engage with the clinic. The FQHC Look-Alike track, if completed, would expand federal supports that can lower drug costs and bolster sustainability for the growing clinic. Wangler's recognition as Remarkable Woman of New Mexico ties a personal honor to a concrete local effort to shore up primary care access in a county officials and clinicians have said faces some of the steepest gaps in the state.