• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Literature / LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW / LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW “BECOMING DR. Q”

LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW “BECOMING DR. Q”

July 16, 2012 by

“Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon”

Written by Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, MD with Mim Eichler Rivas

Published by University of California Press, 2011

Reviewed  By Luís Torres

_______________________________________________

The Remarkable Story of An Undocumented Mexican Farmworker

 Who Made it To Harvard Medical School and Became a Famous Neurosurgeon

_______________________________________________

The real-life story of Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa is so amazing and seemingly unbelievable that your first reaction is to think it’s a Hollywood movie script. It seems that improbable. But it’s true. As relayed in his book “Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon,” it’s the story of an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who comes to the United States to toil picking fruit in California, works diligently, quickly learns English, shows intellectual promise and goes on to graduate from UC Berkeley, then goes to Harvard Medical School and eventually becomes one of the world’s leading brain surgeons. Hard to believe, but again, it really happened.

Now, neurosurgeon Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa has set down his personal life story (with help from co-writer Mim Eichler Rivas) in a riveting and heart warming autobiography. Today “Dr. Q”, as he refers to himself because folks who don’t speak Spanish have a tough time pronouncing his tongue-twisting multi-syllabic surname, is a pioneer in brain surgery innovations at prestigious Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  He is tops in his field. But just 25 ago he was “just another migrant farmworker” working in the fields of California’s Central Valley. Quite a remarkable story.

How did he accomplish so much, coming from such humble beginnings? That’s the engaging story told in “Becoming Dr. Q.”  It is a story of perseverance, the power of imagination and a dedication to intellectual curiosity. It is the story of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles with the help and guidance of family and educational mentors. It is a story about following your dreams and never giving up. Quite a story, and all the more captivating because it’s true. If the book were written as a novel, it would probably have been rejected by a publisher because the story seems just too improbable to be believed.

Quiñones-Hinojosa was born and raised in the tiny, dusty town of Polaco near Mexicali in Baja California. He was born into a family that constantly struggled to make financial ends meet. But the family was rich in one respect – the support and love that nourished everyone in the family. That was one key to his eventual success in the world. By the time he was nineteen he had completed coursework in Mexico to qualify for a certificate in education, something that prepared him to be a sort of entry-level school teacher. But things didn’t quite pan out and he decided to head to the United States to earn some money.

He tells the harrowing story of sneaking into the country, facing the prospects of jail – or worse. He had heard many stories of undocumented immigrants who died in the desert trying to make it to a new life. But he made it to California and found work in the fields and in a number of odd jobs, always showing that he was an exceedingly bright, resourceful young man. Eventually he took classes at a community college in Stockton and quickly excelled.  He writes, “My enrollment at night classes at San Joaquin Delta College inaugurated a period of great growth and learning for me.”

That led to the wild idea of applying for admission to the University of California. His grades were solid and his aptitude and keen intellect impressed the administrators and professors who interviewed him at Berkeley.

A few years later, with the help and guidance of academic mentors he was accepted at Harvard Medical School after graduating from UC Berkeley. And, again, with encouragement and assistance from mentors he excelled there as well. Because of those experiences, he is devoted to helping others along the way. And that’s one of the reasons he wrote the memoir. He writes, “My hope is that my unlikely story may light a spark in a boy or girl who currently faces bleak prospects to embrace the power of his or her imagination and special magic. Or spur an exhausted medical resident to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel – in the best meaning of the phrase!”

He adds: “(My hope is) especially, to encourage any of us who allow ourselves to judge others by their ethnicity of socioeconomic background to open our eyes to all that we have in common.”

A remarkable tale, and one that is well told in “Becoming Dr. Q.”

____________________________________________

Luís Torres, a veteran journalist and frequent contributor to Latinopia, is the author of the forthcoming book “Doña Julia’s Children: The Life and Legacy of Vahac Mardirosian.”

Filed Under: LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 07.03.25 BRILLIANCE OF ÁNGEL RODRÍGUEZ-DÍAZ

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

The Brilliance of Latino Artist Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz Among the major acquisitions by the prestigious Smithsonian American Art Museum in the 1990s was an Ángel Rodríguez-Diaz painting of famed Latina novelist Sandra Cisneros. Rodríguez-Díaz painted Cisneros in a black Mexican dress decorated with sequins and embroidery, and she “holds a patterned rebozo that snakes around her […]

MIS PENSAMIENTOS with ALFREDO SANTOS 07.03.25 NO KINGS DAY PROTESTS

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

THE NO KINGS PROTEST RALLY IN AUSTIN, TEXAS On a pleasant Saturday afternoon on June 14, 2025, Austin participated in a nationwide ‘NO KINGS” protest rally along with 2,100 other cities and towns and 5,000,000 others citizens across the U.S.A.. It’s estimated that the Austin rally, held on the Texas Capital grounds, drew over 20,000 […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 07.03.25 VIEQUES PARAÍSO AGRÍCOLA

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

Burundanga de Zocotroco José M. Umpierre Vieques Vieques es la Isla Nena del Archipiélago Borinkano que descansa a diez leguas al este de la Isla Grande;  cuenta con 132 kilómetros cuadrados, 33de largo por 7,2 de ancho, con una topografía de montes, colinas, pequeños valles y planicies costeras; abundan playas espectaculares, lagunas con algunos manantiales […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 07. 03.25 VIEQUES AN AGRO PARADISE (ENGLISH)

July 3, 2025 By JT

Umpierre Agro Vieques Vieques is the Nena Island of the Borinkano Archipelago that rests ten leagues east of the Isla Grande; it has 132 square kilometers, 33 long by 7.2 wide, with a topography of mountains, hills, small valleys and coastal plains; spectacular beaches abound, lagoons with some springs and ravines but insufficient to supply […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA WORD JOSÉ MONTOYA “PACHUCO PORTFOLIO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 12, 2011

José Montoya is a renowned poet, artist and activist who has been in the forefront of the Chicano art movement. One of his most celebrated poems is titled “Pachuco Portfolio” which pays homage to the iconic and enduring character of El Pachuco, the 1940s  Mexican American youth who dressed in the stylish Zoot Suit.

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA WORD XOCHITL JULISA BERMEJO “OUR LADY OF THE WATER GALLONS”

By Tia Tenopia on May 26, 2013

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, California. She volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem, “Our Lady of the Water Gallons” at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

© 2025 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin