Undocumented Farm Worker Becomes Brain Surgeon
Vida en el Valle, News Feature, Jennie Rodríguez, Posted: Jul 21, 2008
FRESNO -- Good things don't necessarily come to those who wait, but rather to those who persist and work hard.
That's the credence of Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, a Johns Hopkins University neurosurgeon who started his education at San Joaquin Delta College and whose work is followed on the ABC hospital documentary series 'Hopkins.'
The once undocumented farm laborer now also directs Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's brain tumor surgery program and leads research on the role of stem cells in brain tumors and brain cancer.
"I feel I am paying back to this society and this country for all the opportunities I was given," Quiñones-Hinojosa, 40, said.
"The world will give you the best, if you give the world your best," said the father of three children named Olivia, 3, David Juan, 7 and Gabriel, 9.
Quiñones-Hinojosa, now a resident in Bel Air, Md., certainly tried his best to overcome a life of poverty. He immigrated illegally from Mexicali, Baja California, México, with his parents when he was 19 years old in the mid-1980s to Fresno in search of a better life. Quinones-Hinojosa was a farm laborer in the Central Valley, while living in a dilapidated truck camper for the first year.
Quiñones-Hinojosa and his family moved from Fresno to Stockton after about a year where he continued working as a farm laborer in San Joaquín County before eventually taking a job loading railroad freight cars.
In spite of those conditions, "it was the beginning of an exciting life," Quiñones-Hinojosa said in a telephone interview. He had just completed two back-to-back, six-hour brain surgeries. It was around midnight in Baltimore.
He wanted more for his life -- the American dream, he said. Whatever that was, he knew farm labor wasn't it.
Quinoñes-Hinojosa enrolled in English classes at San Joaquín Delta College and soon thereafter began taking general education courses.
"In Stockton, is where it all came together."
Stockton was the beginning of his journey to medicine, permanent residence and marriage.
While at Delta, the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 granted him permanent amnesty into the country. There, he also met his wife Anna, who attended the community college, as well.
A few years later, he received a scholarship and was accepted into University of California, Berkeley, where he developed a passion for science. Upon graduating with honors from Berkeley in 1994, Quiñones-Hinojosa moved on to Harvard Medical School and again graduated cum laude in 1999, a year early. He was 31 years old and headed to his residency at University of California, San Francisco.
A south Stockton resident, Marta Hinojosa, his aunt, remembers him as a perfectionist during his childhood. "When he had homework essays, he used to have me type them for him, because he always wanted his homework neat," she said.
"We all feel very proud, because we never believed he would reach this capacity," said Hinojosa. "He will continue arriving at high levels to place Latinos in a high place, so no one can say that we don't have that capacity."
Quiñones-Hinojosa doesn't give much thought to the politics surrounding immigration. "I spend most of my time, literally, in people's brains. I don't really think much about anything else," he said.
But, in regard to immigration, he would like to be a positive example of how immigrants contribute to this nation: "How can I make it better for people in the United States, so when people think about immigrants they think about someone at Johns Hopkins saving lives?"
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Diversity Emergency in California’s Health Care Work Force
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User Comments
soulnote on Jul 24, 2008 at 15:46:28 said:
Hate divides the mind and spirit into spew.
Love will free you.
Hate will consume you.
It will distort the facts.
nativessayno on Jul 23, 2008 at 15:55:38 said:
I happen to be brown skinned too but my subjective experience in LA is that in the past 2 years my city has been a vertible (excelerated) magnet for illegal (fraud) workers. This is a stone fact. And the simple clear point here is that they come here work and in let's say a grocery chain store with false papers......Percentage-wise within 24 months the rate is staggering....mid-decade there was a real heterogeneity in most retail stores....now it is illegal immigrant workers enforce...how do I know this?...oh, because, as you say, I am a racist. But well there it is in black and white...but that's not the proscribed opinion permitted to me.
You don't have to officially sterotype me or anyone as you already have all the answers and if someone has a view contrary they are an absurd racist. It must be a great comfort to have figured this out. We can relax now since dave has solved this and is on the case.
dave on Jul 23, 2008 at 15:01:19 said:
nativessayno: "Your sentiment is of little consolation to the widow Danielle Bologna."
Look, I’m not saying that illegal immigrants don’t commit crimes. I could pull out tons of stories of undocumented immigrants commiting crimes, easily. That is my point. There is a disproportionate amount of stories aimed at making it look like undocumented immigrants are the cause of all or most of society’s ills, that they commit much more crimes, are a strain on our healthcare, education, and correctional systems, etc, and that if we could just close the border and deport all of them, we’ll be much better off.
The fact is, statistically speaking, immigrants, documented or otherwise, are less inclined to commit crimes than US citizens. It is just simply false to assume, by looking at news stories via newspaper articles, TV, websites, etc., that most of the undocumented immigrants here are here to commit crime, or even that they take more than the give back to this country. That is a falsehood, and I can give you reputable sources to prove it.
nativessayno: "I get my "statistics" from living in LA for 30 years and see MILLIONS- thats right, Dave, millions of illegal immigrants fraudulently, (with complete impunity) taking over the service sectors in a very short time- 24 months!"
So, what you are saying is that, from personal experience living in LA for 30 years, you can see MILLIONS of people that have “taken over”, with complete impunity (What does that even mean?), in the course of 24 months (Huh, I thought you were talking about 30 years?), and that because they have “taken over”, US citizens are worse off? Do I understand you correctly? I’m assuming that when you say service sectors, you are talking about restaurants, malls, car washes, and…farm workers and fruit pickers? And that the impact is that without these immigrants, US citizens could work in then be able to work the service sector. Do you just assume that every brown-skinned service sector worker is an “illegal”? Do you even know how absurd you sound?
nativessayno: "Just call closed border posters racists; then "voile" case-closed....except that thousands of illegals are on their way north at this very moment. Will you help them out, Dave since you are the big altruist?"
What makes you think I’m not for a closed border…or that I would bother to call someone like you a racist? (Did I ever call you a racist? Isn't it obvious?) And what makes you think I’m an altruist? (Because I choose not to stereotype people?) An altruist is someone that gives or serves at the expense of their self interests. That is not me. But it is understandable coming from you. As was said before, this is a complex situation. You need to look beyond black and white solutions. Whether you can do that is something only you can answer.
nativessayno on Jul 23, 2008 at 10:48:24 said:
dave: conversely Edwin Ramos of MS-13 took three lives in SF....Your sentiment is of little consolation to the widow Danielle Bologna.
I get my "statistics" from living in LA for 30 years and see MILLIONS- thats right, Dave, millions of illegal immigrants fraudulently, (with complete impunity) taking over the service sectors in a very short time- 24 months! While it is a positive that they these new arrivals aspire and are gaining.....at what cost to citizens? We have two discrete legal systems. One regular; one for the "exceptional".
Just call closed border posters racists; then "voile" case-closed....except that thousands of illegals are on their way north at this very moment. Will you help them out, Dave since you are the big altruist?
The 1980's amnesty settled many issues but inadvertently created a much worse one- mainly due to GWB's current passivity and inaction in this very serious national matter.
I sincerely applaud Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa and rank him in the category of extremely meaningful immigrant success stories.
I am afraid that your sentiment: "One true story speaks louder than many false stories"
does not contain any actual false stories" is a weak syllogism for open the border or you are a racist....illogical in the extreme!
dave on Jul 23, 2008 at 07:09:13 said:
This is not the eighties, nativessayno, but still the sentiment is the same. Continue to get your "statistics" from racist groups like NumberstUSA, FAIR, and the Center for Immigration Studies, who all push the idea that undocumented immigrants are not humans who want the same things in life, but they specifically sneak over the border to take our jobs, reap the benefits of our system, and commit crimes. One true story speaks louder than many false stories.
nativessayno on Jul 22, 2008 at 08:31:03 said:
Quiñones-Hinojosa is the beneficiary of the 1980's amnesty and someone we should all applaud for his important and good works.
-->While making a point about his story however, this is not the mid 80's and the persons in droves in 2008 are not by any means saving lives; more like displacing citizens on the cheap and overusing taxpayer services like it is their own personal account. Not the same time or the same thing as what is occuring today. No comparison whatsoever.