Oct 7, 2019
Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa’s journey from migrant farm worker to brain surgeon is one that conjures inspiration, and an appreciation for hard work and dedication.
On the night of on January 2, 1987, Dr. Q jumped the fence from Mexico to the United States not once, but twice. He made his way to the San Joaquin Valley so he could financially help himself and his family.
After a year as a farm worker, Dr. Q reached the pinnacle of what a farm worker could achieve in the fields—but he knew he could accomplish more. He knew that an education would introduce a world outside of farm work.
He joined the rest of his family in Stockton, California and he enrolled at San Joaquin Delta College. Within two years, Dr. Q was a student at UC Berkeley.
While on campus, Dr. Q realized that as a kid he was surrounded by natural healers in his family and that the joy that came from helping others was part of his DNA. He made the decision to become a doctor—Harvard Medical School was his next destination.
One night while roaming the hospital corridors as a student, Dr. Q was unexpectedly invited to observe a brain surgery in which the patient would be awake. That experience solidified what his soul had been seeking his whole life: he was meant to become a neurosurgeon.
Dr. Q’s path to neurosurgery lead him to do his residency at the University of California, San Francisco, where he discovered that being a brain surgeon wasn’t enough. He took his fight to the laboratory to understand and find a cure for brain cancer.
Today Dr. Q is steadfast on finding a cure for brain cancer without surgery or operation of any kind. At one point all the odds were against Dr. Q in becoming a brain surgeon. The same odds are against him now with his resolve against cancer. If Dr. Q’s personal history serves as a reminder, his tenacity and fortitude can overcome anything.
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