Dr. Q's Quest

Now known as "Dr. Q", Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, left Mexico at the age of 19 for the USA. He worked as a cotton picker, painter, and welder for two years, while teaching himself how to speak English. His hard work and perseverance paid off as he was able to put himself through medical school and become the amazing neurosurgeon he is today. Dr Q. has worked for Johns Hopkins since 2005 as a professor and surgeon specializing in brain cancer and pituitary tumors.

Dr. Q and his team oversee various projects related to brain cancer. Here are just a few of the many ways they help:

Neuro-Oncology Outcomes Lab: seeks to identify treatment procedures used both before and after surgery that improve patient care, quality of life, and mortality rates for patients with brain tumors. Read more

Research Lab: looking to see if populations of stem cells already found in the normal pituitary gland also exist in pituitary tumors. Though they cause the growth of the tumor, learning more about them could pinpoint a step in the cell cycle that, if stopped, would halt their growth. Studying these cells could also lead to future medicine that would regenerate parts of the pituitary gland destroyed by the tumor. Read more

Patient Care: “The challenge in what we do is not in the surgery—it’s in the emotional connection you form with the patients.”—Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa. Read more