Dr. Joseph Lopez, one of the U.S.’s ‘Top Hispanic Doctors,’ on the lightbulb moment that shaped his career

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  • Caroline Glenn
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For the third year in a row, Castle Connolly has chosen Joseph Lopez, MD, as one of the nation’s Top Hispanic & Latino Doctors.

Dr. Lopez is chief of pediatric surgery at AdventHealth for Children’s head and neck clinic in Orlando – the largest clinic in the U.S. dedicated to kids with craniofacial abnormalities and head and neck cancers and tumors.

Dr. Joseph Lopez holds his award from Castle Connolly recognizing him as one of the nation's Top Hispanic & Latino Doctors.

He is the country’s first physician fellowship-trained in both pediatric craniomaxillofacial plastic surgery and head and neck cancer surgery.

Speaking with Castle Connolly, an organization that for 35 years has helped people find trusted doctors, Dr. Lopez recalled the lightbulb moment that inspired him to train in both fields: It was a 3-year-old patient with a cancerous mouth tumor, and there was no surgeon capable of removing it.

“The mass kept getting bigger and bigger, and she was being shuffled from specialty to specialty without anyone taking ownership and identifying how that child needed to be treated. I recognized there was an unmet need,” Dr. Lopez said.

It’s that unique training – at Johns Hopkins, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Harvard University – that helps him care for children as whole people.

When asked about his success, Dr. Lopez said he owes it all to his parents who immigrated from El Salvador with just an elementary school education and his humble background that taught the importance of faith, hard work and caring for others above all else.

“I needed to set the standard and provide the best care possible,” he said. “That is a responsibility I do not take lightly.”

Read the full article with Dr. Lopez here.

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