Guillermo Ruiz-Argüelles, M.D. (HEM 1983)

Alumni Association Board member

• Director General, Centro de Hematología y Medicina Interna, Clinica Ruiz, Puebla, México
• Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumni Award, 2011
• Fellowship: Post doctoral Research Fellow in Hematology, Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education
• Residency: Internal Medicine, Hematology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, México City
• Medical School: Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, México
• Undergraduate: Instituto Militarizado Oriente, Puebla, México
• Native of: Puebla, México

Why did you decide to pursue medicine?
I was exposed to medicine since I was a kid. At age 8, I decided to become a physician – a hematologist, just like my father.

Why did you train at Mayo Clinic?
After medical school, I spent time doing medical research and met a mentor who became my friend – Donato Alarcón-Segovia, M.D. (I 1964), who received the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999. He convinced me to come to Mayo as a post doctoral research fellow.

How does Mayo Clinic influence your practice?
When I was at Mayo, my family was building a clinic in Puebla, México. We reproduced the Mayo physicians’ offices in our clinic. We are heavily involved in patient care, teaching and research, following the Mayo system – excellence in private practice health care. One of my main goals at Mayo was to get acquainted with bone marrow transplantation (BMT). I quickly learned that I was not going to be able to reproduce the Mayo BMT system and elected to start a BMT program according to the reality of my country and other developing countries, but with the main objectives of the Mayo program. With our “Mexican method” of BMT, we have grafted more than 500 patients who never would have afforded conventional BMT.

What valuable lesson did you learn at Mayo Clinic?
Learn the best and adapt it to your reality.

What do you do in your spare time?
I enjoy traveling. I read nonmedical literature and have engaged in vintage car restoration.

What would people be surprised to know about you?
I belong to a four-generation family of physicians – my grandfather, father, uncle, brother, son and nephew. Members of two generations have been trained at Mayo Clinic in Rochester – my brother, Alejandro; my son, Guillermo, and me. Mayo has influenced not only our medical practice in our country but also our families. My father, my son and I are hematologists working together in our family institution, Clínica Ruiz.