Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa

Dr Q’s story was featured in ‘Hopkins’. Quiñones stars in the second episode of The Surgeon's Cut, produced by BBC Studios’ The Science Unit for Netflix which was released globally on 9th of December 2020.

Quiñones is the author of more than 50 book chapters, and has authored several textbooks on neurosurgical techniques and stem cell biology. In 2011, Quiñones edited Core Techniques in Operative Neurosurgery and published his autobiography, Becoming Dr Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon, which went on to earn him an International Latino Book Award in 2012. In 2012, Quiñones was the lead editor of the 6th edition of Schmidek and Sweet's Operative Neurosurgical Techniques, one of the world's preeminent textbooks of neurosurgery. He will also serve as the lead editor for the 7th edition of Schmidek and Sweet's Operative Neurosurgical Techniques. In 2013, Quiñones published Controversies in Neuro-Oncology: Best Evidence Medicine for Brain Tumor Surgery with Dr. Shaan Raza. The British Medical Association awarded Controversies in Neuro-Oncology first prize in Oncology in 2014. Quiñones is currently working on a first Video-Atlas of Neurosurgery that will be published in 2016.

Quiñones began his career at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he became a Professor of Neurosurgery and Oncology, Neurology, and Cellular and Molecular Medicine and director of the Brain Tumor Stem Cell Biology Lab. Quiñones conducts both clinical and basic science research. From 2005 to 2016, his team published over 150 scientific articles and received 14 funding grants. Quiñones conducts numerous research efforts on elucidating the role of stem cells in the origin of brain tumors, and the potential role stem cells can play in fighting brain cancer and regaining neurological function. He has been actively involved in fundraisers for brain cancer research. He continues to participate at half-marathons with his research team and some of his own patients to raise money for cancer research.

Quiñones was born in Mexicali, Baja California, México. In 1987, at the age of 19, Quiñones-Hinojosa went to the United States. Once arriving in the United States, Quiñones could not speak English and worked on farms outside of Fresno, California. As a farm hand, he saved enough money to take English classes.

He is an editorial board member and reviewer for several publications. Most notably, he is the editor-in-chief for Schmidek and Sweet Operative Neurosurgical Techniques (6th edition). He is also one of the editors for Controversies in Neuro-Oncology: Best Evidence Medicine for Brain Tumor Surgery, which was awarded first prize by the British Medical Association. He is co-founder and serves as president of Mission: BRAIN, Bridging Resources and Advancing International Neurosurgery, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation.