Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, MD, FAANS, FAC
Chair of Neurologic Surgery
Mayo Clinic Florida
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, MD
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, MD, is a consultant and serves as chair of the Department of Neurologic Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Florida. Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in August 2016 and is recognized with the distinction of a named professorship, the William J. and Charles H. Mayo Professorship. Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa earned his BA in psychology at the University of California–Berkeley and his MD at Harvard Medical School, where he graduated cum laude. He completed an internship in general surgery, postdoctoral fellowship in developmental and stem cell biology, and residency in neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa leads the Brain Tumor Stem Cell Laboratory and is the chair and Mayo Professor of the Neurosurgery Department at Mayo Clinic in Florida. Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa's laboratory studies brain tumors from a surgical, imaging, clinical, and basic science perspective to improve patient safety and maximize the efficacy of current treatments for brain tumors. He uses the operating room as an extension of the laboratory and he has published extensively on animal models of human brain tumors based on brain tumor-initiating cells (BTIC). He also focuses on the molecular motors that drive brain cancer migration and invasion. He has one active clinical human protocol to maximize the extent of resection in the operating room and several approved IRB protocols to conduct work in rodents, primates, and humans. Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa has an extensive expertise in elucidating the molecular ties and engines underlying cellular mechanisms implicated in the multifactorial nature of disease pathogenesis in the CNS. He has over 400 publications in peer reviewed journals with an H-index of 67. He also served in many NIH study sections as a permanent member as well as recently serving in the NIH/NCI Board of Scientific Counselors. Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa has written 6 books on brain cancer clinical and basic science that have been translated into other languages around the world. He has over 25 patents (pending and awarded). He has currently 5 NIH grants as PI/MPI as well as being an investigator in other NIH grants.
In recognition of his work, Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa has received many awards and honors, including being named as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in 2008, the 2014 Gary Lichtenstein Humanitarian Award and Neurosurgeon of the Year, and by the 2015 Forbes Magazine as one of Mexico's most brilliant minds in the world. He has received honorary degrees from Southern Vermont College, Lackawanna College, Dominican University, University of Notre Dame, and Loyola University. In addition, he has published an autobiography, "Becoming Dr. Q," about his journey from migrant farm worker to neurosurgeon and recently Disney with Plan B Entertainment productions announced that his inspirational life story is going to be featured in a movie.
Besides his clinical and research activities, Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa is active in education and provides mentorship as he has trained over 300 fellows in the laboratory and in clinical work over the last 13 years who now hold positions nationally and internationally in universities like Harvard, Hopkins, MD Anderson, UCSF, and in Spain, Mexico, Panama, and London to mention a few.
Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa is co-founder and serves as president of Mission: BRAIN, Bridging Resources and Advancing International Neurosurgery, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit foundation. He also has 3 start-up companies based on his work in the laboratory. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Voices Against Brain Cancer, and he is co-chair of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Tumor Section International Committee. Moreover, he serves on many study sections of the National Institutes of Health, including being chair of meeting sessions.