Since 1980, Dr. César Chelala has worked as a consultant on planning, monitoring and evaluation of public health projects for several international agencies. He earned his medical degree in 1964. In 1971, he went to the United States and worked as a researcher in molecular genetics and pharmacology at New York City’s Public Health Research Institute and later at the New York University School of Medicine. He has conducted health-related missions in over 50 countries for USAID, UNICEF, WHO, PAHO, UNFPA, UNDP, UNESCO, Capital Development Fund, the Guttmacher Institute, the Mexican Foundation for Health, World Education, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Carnegie Corporation.

He has written scientific and medical articles for Biochemical and Biophysical Research, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, Molecular and General Genetics, Annals of Internal Medicine, The British Medical Journal, and Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 1979, he co-authored an article (with Paul H. Hoeffel) about the “disappeared” in Argentina. The article, "Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims", was published as a cover story in The New York Times Magazine. The authors received the 1979 Overseas Press Club of America award for the best article on human rights for this article. Senator Edward Kennedy made a special motion in Congress to incorporate the article in the Congressional Record as a historical document on the consequences of political violence in Argentina. He created and developed the Communicating for Health Series for the Pan American Health Organization.

In addition, Dr. Chelala has received two national journalism awards from ADEPA, the organization of newspaper editors in Argentina. In 2015, he received the Chaski award from Taller Latino Americano, a leading cultural institution in New York, and that same year, he was awarded the Cedar of Lebanon Gold Medal from The House of Lebanon in Tucumán, Argentina. He is a contributing editor and global health consultant for The Globalist, a contributing writer for The Japan Times, and a New York correspondent for The Middle East Times International (Australia).

He has written for several newspapers around the world, among them: The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The China Daily, The Daily News Egypt, The Japan Times, The Moscow Times, The Globalist, The News International (Pakistan), Le Monde Diplomatique (France), Asahi Shimbun (Japan), Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland), The Daily Star (Beirut), The Swiss Review of World Affairs, La Nación (Argentina), La Gaceta de Tucumán (Argentina), ViceVersa Magazine (new York, Spain), The International Herald Tribune, The Harvard International Review, The Women International Perspectives (WIP), The Baltimore Sun, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The News International,* Lahore* (Pakistan,) and The Times of Israel (Jerusalem).

César Chelala Artistic Work

César Chelala’s unique photographs combine two seemingly disparate aspects of fine art photography and photojournalism. Argentine-born, he has been living and working in New York City since 1971. His works have been part of numerous gallery exhibitions – at the Sundaram Tagore gallery and Monique Goldstrom gallery in Soho, New York; at the Argentine Embassy in Washington D.C., and at the United Nations headquarters in New York (his works were chosen on the occasion of the Millennium Day Celebration), among others.

Exhibitions include:

In 2012, he was selected to participate in a show entitled “Reality of Placement: Contemporary Art from Latin America,” which took place at the Salem Art Works in Salem, New York. In 2005, the artist's works were included in the exhibition of selected artists at the Martinez Gallery in New York in celebration of the gallery's anniversary. To celebrate the anniversary of El Quixote de la Mancha, the artist's works were chosen for a group exhibition at the International Center at Boricua College in New York and at the New York Public Library.

In 2004, Chelala had a solo exhibition at the Latin American Workshop/Grady Alexis Gallery in New York. In 2002-2003, he participated in several exhibitions at Monique Goldstrom Gallery in NY, at Martinez Gallery in Troy, New York, as well as at William Whipple Gallery at Southwest State University in Minnesota. Chelala's photographs have also been part of an exhibition of Latin American artists titled “Uncovered Treasures” at the New York State Museum in Albany. In 2003, he participated in the multi-center exhibition, titled “Latin Heritage Month Art Exhibit” in New York, sponsored by Credit Suisse/First Boston Bank. Within the same year, he was also included in the exhibition “Image of Latin American 2003” organized by MG International and CVB space in New York. His photographs of Argentina have also been exhibited at the United Nations Secretariat building in New York, at the Argentine Embassy in Washington, D.C., and at the Sundaram Tagore Gallery and the Monique Goldstrom Gallery in Soho, New York.