Alfredo Quiñones Hinojosa went from undocumented immigrant, who picked everything from tomatoes to cotton, to top neurosurgeon at the famous Mayo Clinic. His journey will be turned into a movie produced by Brad Pitt
Quiñones’ (also known as Dr. Q) path started in 1987 when he arrived at the United States from his home in state of Baja California at the age of 19, looking for work. His first job was in a farm outside of Fresno, California.
Dr. Q talked in an interview about the loss of her little sister to colitis, this due to his impoverished family’s lack of access to medical care. It’s that loss that sparked the young man’s interest in the medical profession.
He obtained his green card a couple of years after working the fields, and then enorolled in a community college. He later transferred to UC Berkley to then moving on to Harvard Medical School, one of the most prestigious in the United States. His a journey was challenging, but not impossible. He hope to inspire others to follow their dreams.
Quiñones recalled his childhood in Baja California: “I just remember growing up playing around as a little boy, no worries I remember in front of my house when it rained we used to have this accumulation of water and I thought that was like the Sea of Cortez,” Dr. Q said.
“I always strived to be the best so that hasn’t changed when I went to UC Berkeley in ’91. I wanted to be the best undergraduate student. When I went to Harvard I wanted to be the best medical student,” he said.
But Quiñones says he’d be lying if he said he never faced discrimination during his years as a migrant worker, a group often referred to as the United States invisible population. Dr. Q said about this: “So what I tell people is dreams no one can take away from you, and at the end of the day this country still values honesty, hard work,”
Although that conclusion wasn’t always so clear to Quiñones, it took years for him to even tell others about his humble beginnings. And his story is so impressing that Plan B, Brad Pitt’s production company, is working along side Disney to bring his story to the big screen.
The neurosurgeon said that he can’t wait to see the movie, because its “the story of the immigrant, the struggle of those who come to America and have a dream.” The film is set to hit theaters as early as next year.
