Behind The Scrubs: 3 Medical Doctors with Amazing Life Stories
October 28, 2013
For Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, Dr. Arnaldo Moreno, and Dr. Ben Carson, the road to success has not been easy. However, despite facing seemingly insurmountable odds, these individuals have achieved incredible success in the healthcare field. Today these men are successful doctors and their stories should serve as inspiration for generations to come.
Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
At a casual gathering at Harvard Medical School, one of Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa's colleagues once asked the Mexican youngster how he had come to Harvard. His answer: “I hopped the fence.” Naturally, everybody laughed, but little did they know that he was telling the truth. Born in 1968, he witnessed how his family suffered during Mexico's financial crisis in the 1980s, struggling to put food on the table. He had to sell hot dogs for petty change and, at 19, he was lost and desperate. Then, one day, just like thousands of his countrymen before him, he took that leap over the fence, hoping for a better future.
At first Alfredo worked a variety of menial jobs. Eventually he saved up enough to enroll at California's San Joaquin Delta Community College. From there he moved on to UC Berkeley. Alfredo applied himself in the math and science classes because they didn't require fluent English. With a record of straight As in science, he was encouraged to try Harvard Medical School. He did and was accepted. While there, he was naturalized in 1997. Initially, he thought of becoming a pediatric oncologist because he wanted to help children.
One day, however, a colleague invited him to an “awake” brain surgery; he found it fascinating and fell in love with it. Today, Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa multi-tasks at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He teaches neurosurgery and oncology, leads a neurosurgery clinic and heads a lab studying brain tumors. On top of that, he performs nearly 250 brain surgeries a year.
Dr. Arnaldo Moreno
The son of Cuban immigrants, Arnaldo Moreno developed an early fascination with doctors. Both his parents cleaned doctors' offices in San Francisco to make ends meet, and while accompanying them to work, he sensed how much respect and admiration they had for the medical profession.
His parents divorced when Arnaldo was 5, but his mother recognized the value of education and pushed him hard. While at school, Arnaldo was encouraged by a friend of his to attend medical school. His father, however, now living in Florida, insisted he should join the army to have some security and “become a man”.
Nevertheless, he applied to various universities and finally enrolled at UC Berkeley. He started the pre-med program, hoping to become a doctor, but failed his physics and calculus class. Losing faith that he would ever be able to realize his dream, Arnaldo turned to political science and during his last semester at Berkeley was recruited by IBM.
At 27, he began to doubt that his path was to make IBM shareholders richer; he quit his job and returned to school to complete a pre-med program. After applying to 13 medical schools and receiving 12 rejections, he was offered a place at the University of Florida. A defining point in his choice of specialty came when his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He couldn't do anything to save her, but made up his mind to pursue a career in geriatric psychiatry.
Today, Dr. Moreno is the Medical Director for Geriatric Psychiatry at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He also teaches at UC San Francisco, which ranks among the country's top medical schools. In 2011, he was honored with the school's Excellence in Teaching award.
Dr. Ben Carson
National Institute of Standards and Technology / Wikimedia Commons
Ben Carson almost dropped out of school while in fifth grade. His classmates often called him “dummy”. Fed up with failure in life, his mother Sonja, who had quit school in third grade, refused to let him make the same mistakes. She banned TV watching and set a no play rule until homework was completed.
Her two sons had to read two books a week and write her a report, although she could barely read it. Ben rapidly improved his grades and suddenly realized he was far from stupid. A year later, he was at the top of his class, having a new dream – to become a doctor. With his excellent marks, he was able to land a place at Yale University where he graduated with a degree in Psychology.
Already at University of Michigan’s medical school, Ben decided to explore the world of neurosurgery. After completing his residency at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Carson became the director of pediatric neurosurgery at the age of 32.
In 1987, Dr. Carson achieved world fame by performing the first operation to separate Siamese twins. He is also the recipient of the nation's highest civilian honor – the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
