The Fantastic Doctor Q.
Highlights:
- Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, known as Dr. Q, grew up in Baja California in Mexico, and later became the head of neurosurgery at Mayo Clinic in Florida, overcoming barriers along the way.
- His personality was shaped by the contrasting influences of his grandmother’s strict discipline and his grandfather’s adventurous spirit, helping him become both determined and curious.
- At 19, Dr. Q crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, working as a farmworker and later studying English, eventually attending prestigious institutions like Harvard Medical School.
- He co-founded mission:brain to provide neurosurgical care for underprivileged patients and launched biotech companies focused on innovative therapies for cancer and cell engineering.
- Dr. Q emphasizes the importance of education and personal contribution to create change, stating that opportunities for children begin with good nutrition and quality education.
On the dusty roads of Palaco, a town in northern Baja California near the U.S. border, three children pedal their bikes near their home. They play without worries, performing stunts and wheelies on their red and black bikes, surrounded by a desert landscape. Walking among them is Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, known as Dr. Q, who, decades ago, was just like them. He knows it all began there. Today, he is the head of neurosurgery at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, a renowned researcher, philanthropist, and entrepreneur.
Many things can be torn down, but who you are—your essence—doesn’t have to change. Your soul, your passions, the framework of who you are as a person, never changes.
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
He saw only the floor passing by the house where he grew up. There were no walls or roofs left. “Many things can be torn down, but who you are—your essence—doesn’t have to change. Your soul, your passions, the framework of who you are as a person, never changes,” explains Dr. Q. He grew up in a humble family, facing both physical and metaphorical borders—barriers to opportunities, emotional obstacles, and the constant presence of a fence. On the other side… a world of hope?
His grandmother María, the yin of his life, used to tell him, “Don’t be mischievous, don’t be restless.” She was a strong, demanding woman who worked as a midwife and healer in Palaco. “Behind this warm personality lies a strong character. Yet, despite everything, the people around me still stay by my side. My grandmother was like that, too.” In contrast, his grandfather Juan, the yang, instilled in him an adventurous spirit, encouraging him to explore. “Go. Don’t worry. If you fall, you get up.” This free-spirited, dreamer side of his personality comes from him. These two forces, though opposite, are complementary. “That’s where my personality started to take shape. I believe I carry a bit of both their characters.”
We are all born scientists.
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
“Remember, Sebastián, we are all born scientists. We are all curious,” Dr. Q tells me. Since childhood, he experimented with everything he found, conducting tests with gasoline alongside his brother at their father’s gas station, where he worked after school. “I didn’t know exactly how to apply the scientific method, but I was a scientist from a young age.“
Flavia, his mother, was welcomed by his grandparents as their own daughter when she married his father. “My father, Sóstenes, has an enormous, tender heart. He’s the kind of person who would give you his shoes, his shirt—everything, even food.” However, he suffered greatly when Dr. Q’s little sister died from diarrhea. “I was three years old, and she was six months.” His father fell into depression, and it was Flavia who kept the family together, working to support them. Even today, according to 2022 data from the Mexican Ministry of Health, 13.3 out of every thousand newborns in Mexico do not live to see their first birthday.
At night, lying down, just a boy, I would cry, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
“I wondered why this fence, this border, this barrier between two countries existed.” At 19, he decided to cross it, seeing it as a challenge, not an obstacle. “Watching my uncles, my mother’s brothers, who worked in the U.S. as laborers and returned with sacks of potatoes and beans, made me think there was hope to the north.” He didn’t speak the language and was afraid. He began working in the fields of California, enduring long, sun-filled days of physically demanding labor. At first, he had nowhere to live, but eventually, he purchased a leaky trailer, where he spent his nights in the middle of the fields. “At night, lying down, just a boy, I would cry, wondering what tomorrow would bring.”
Conversations with a cousin sparked the idea of learning English. “I loved working in the fields, but within a year, I had already mastered all the hard jobs.” He later got a job with a railroad company, shoveling sulfur at night from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. “Remember, sulfur smells like hell.“
A cousin told me not to dream of something different, to accept reality. But I knew there was more out there.
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
Though fear had always been present, from his roots in Mexicali to the U.S., Dr. Q learned to harness it. “A cousin told me not to dream of something different, to accept reality. But I knew there was more out there.” He enrolled in English as a Second Language classes at San Joaquin Delta College. He never imagined attending medical school but dreamed of a better life.
With more synapses in your brain than stars in the galaxy, there are no limits.
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
Dr. Joe Martínez, a neurobiology professor with a discreet mentoring style, offered him a job at the University of California, Berkeley, on a scholarship. “He saw something in me.” They were studying memory and performing surgeries on mice, and soon, his fascination with science took off. He left his railroad job and pursued psychology. Dr. Martínez passed away on August 29, 2020, at the age of 76. Eventually, Dr. Q’s education took him to Harvard Medical School and later to the University of California, San Francisco, where he specialized in neurosurgery. “With more synapses in your brain than stars in the galaxy, there are no limits.”
He nourishes his soul with hope: “It keeps me young and joyful. Even if I can’t save a patient’s life or find a cure, I can still heal their soul.” He accompanies his patients, making them feel part of something greater: “I tell them, ‘Let me help you become part of history.’ I give them a purpose.”
He went from Palaco to the United States, from farmworker to neurosurgeon and researcher, and from neurosurgeon to philanthropist and entrepreneur. “Most people only know about my clinical work.” Together with his wife, Anna, they decided to channel the proceeds from his lectures into charitable causes. This gave rise to mission:brain, which provides underprivileged patients access to advanced neurosurgical procedures. In collaboration with Dr. Jordan Green, he co-founded Dome Therapeutics, pioneering cell engineering with nanoparticles. He also launched Aqualux Bio and RecurX Bio, focusing on immune cell therapies and preventing cancer cell migration and invasion. His brand, Q Scrubs, produces surgical scrubs and donates profits to mission:brain.
Leaving Mexico never made me stop being Mexican. In fact, the more time passes, the more I realize how beautiful our beloved Mexico is.
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
“Leaving Mexico never made me stop being Mexican. In fact, the more time passes, the more I realize how beautiful our beloved Mexico is,” he says. He knows education enabled him to move forward, and he believes that strengthening the education system to provide more children with opportunities is crucial. Change cannot rely solely on politics; every individual must take responsibility and act. “Imagine if each of us contributed just a small grain of sand. It could build a castle.”
Imagine if each of us contributed just a small grain of sand. It could build a castle.
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
Those children pedaling along the paths of Palaco, just as Dr. Q did in his childhood on a brakeless bike, represent millions of Mexican children with enormous potential. They can achieve any dream, but they need opportunities. And those opportunities start with something as basic as good nutrition and quality education. “Seeing those children and the place where I grew up brought tears to my eyes.”
