 So could you take us back To your early years and and and tell us how you got to the United States where did you grow up and Explain the situation your family found itself in and what propelled you north well I grew up in a small town outside of Mexicali Baja, California the peninsula maybe about 60 80 kilometers down from the border between Mexicali and Calexico I Start working on a small gas station that my parents Had when I was five years old they own the station they own the gas station It's more right way outside of the city limits, and then we have the sort of an economic crisis And the meat to late 70s the devaluation Evaluation of the Mexican peso that went from you know two Pesos per dollar all the way up to 23 and eventually 200 pesos per dollar And then we lost everything and as you know not only Mexico was going through a crisis the United States by 1983 1986 was going through a crisis So there was a bifurcation of classes, and then that got exacerbated we ended up losing the little bit we had and I saw myself in a predicament even at a very early age of not seeing Food on our table how old were you I was by this time I was about nine ten years old, and I remember my uncles used to be Well they called Bracero they used to come to the United States and work for a certain amount of time during the season and then Bring back food for us, and I as I look back and I write about this on my book Probably the seed the DNA my DNA was beginning to change right there and then and maybe the idea of One day me coming up north just to put to be able to put food on the table for my parents and siblings was born So the DNA began with the change began with watching your uncles cross the border I would assume that the border was Sort of a fundamental part of the of the conversation and the culture in Mexicali and in the town that you grew up because of Your proximity was there a lot of flow of people across the border? You're your uncle yes, absolutely I mean that was that's how I grew up hearing about stories of my uncles and older cousins Coming to the United States to make a living and that got exacerbated as the economy got worse So that was part of the normal conversation Although we also if one of my mom's brothers died in that journey around that time actually in the 70s So we knew it was a dangerous journey even back then in the late 70s early 80s It was already getting a little bit more complex So it was not as easy as it would have been 20 years prior to come to the United States What were we never never knew obviously, but he just he left when he was 19 years old incidentally the same age I had in 1987 when I first came to the States and he never came back and the people that Traveled with him that said that he got into a situation right in the desert and they never found them So what what kind of conversation was happening around your your kitchen table as you began to approach this decisive moment where you? You headed north. I think that the conversation is very simple There are no jobs There is no food we got to do something, you know, and I Wish, you know, most people think that you know, I came to the United States You know and I've been blessed by some of the most wonderful Things at this country the American dream can give you incredible education from Berkeley to Harvard now at Hopkins You know about to become a full professor within six years, you know So I accelerated through the process and most people think that I you know I wanted this in my life and the truth is that I found myself in necessity and when I first came to the United States I thought I was just gonna come here make enough money and go back to my country But then I realized that the situation wasn't changing that not nothing was changing back in my country and I at one point back into 1989-1990 I decided that I wanted to stay in the United States looking back into the experiences that my uncles had so did you have brothers and sisters? Yes, did any of them? Yes by this time This is 1987 1988. I Realized that my parents were suffering back in Mexico even though I was sending money So we arranged for them to come to the United States with my younger siblings, right? Okay, let's go back though So you you made the decision to go how what was your route? What did you what route did you take? How did you get into the country? I literally just have defense What what I was 19 years old right between Mexicali and Calexico just like spider-man were you on your own? Were you with the group by myself? I couldn't have a time nighttime. I couldn't afford to to actually pay For what was called a smuggler or a coyote that's 600 bucks, and I only had 63 bucks in my pocket You know so I figure that if I can have defense and somehow around the time It was a little bit different you could actually go to San Diego and Potentially catch a flight between San Diego and LA and for those who understand the border They realize that you bypassed the checkpoints and highway five and that's exactly what I did So I had two dollars and several cents left when I landed in LAX And what did it feel like to jump the fence? I was a very decisive moment I mean the first time that I did it. I was young I didn't really know what I was doing. Oh, yeah because they caught me right there and then and then They threw me back and the same night. I Had a choice to make I was either gonna give up or try it again And I tried it a second time and as you can see because of my journey I rarely make the same mistakes twice. What did you do differently the second I started the situation I went back and I lay down on the floor of the border and I started started the pattern I wish the highway patrol was passing by same night same night same time window They literally caught you the first time and tossed you across the border It was just a kid, you know for them. It was just another kid trying to have the fence You know and they did it and I came back and I the second time I was successful So you said earlier when you came to the country when you first came you thought you would work for a little while And then return to Mexico what happened? Well, I Start working on the fields, you know in the tomato in California in California The San Joaquin Valley, which is a beautiful valley and I was so Happy to have a job and to be able to just win make three dollars and 15 cents an hour at the time and you know picking tomatoes and doing all this kind of stuff and immediately I ascended within this Farm labor within a year. I was driving the most Sophisticated machine or you can possibly imagine which is quite interesting Kirk because they spotted a smart guy Super ambitious and ambitious I think I'm not quite sure that I Considered myself brighter than anybody else in this room or anywhere else But I can tell that I have that passion in my belly and I always had that passion for life And I enjoy every single thing that I have done in my life No matter how menial it has been I enjoyed I truly did and I ascended and within a year I was driving this tomato picker that it was like sitting like an astronaut chair Which is incredible because that's what I do today in the operating room I control when I operate I connect to my patient and I control everything with my feet hands I operate in the brain I take out brain tumors except that I also have a microscope that is connected to my mouth in My head and I can move the whole thing as I'm doing surgery just a little bit a step above of what I was doing The stakes are a little bit higher How much education had you had in Mexico I was an elementary school teacher, okay So you graduated from high school Equivalent to high school at the time it had changed since then at the time you could actually get an accelerated take a special Exams and get accelerated to become an elementary school teacher. So I was 18 when I was teaching Sixth graders and then when you're in California, where did you how did you make that transition from the Fields to the classroom? He was this is by 1988 You know, I talk about this in my book you were how old I was about this time I was 19 okay going on 20 and I realized I told one of my cousins It was the first year it was in the first within the first year within the first one month I told one of my cousins, you know, I Think I love to learn English, you know go to school and he looked at me and he says What are you talking about? This is your future just like everybody else in the field You can spend the rest of your life working as a migrant farm worker and nothing wrong about being a migrant farm worker once again I love working with my hands. I'm doing the same thing that nowadays But I felt that they had to be something else beyond that and that's when I made the choice one night And a very famous night I literally wouldn't put myself to sleep crying thinking about what I was doing here You know, my family was struggling my siblings were struggling and I decided to leave the fields and I went on to a Small town and stuck in California where I started once again at the bottom But this time I began to learn English in community college. So you stopped working or did you know? I continue working, but what happened is this is around the same immigration reform of California Which was that with the Reagan administration with the amnesty. So, California gave me a working authorization I paid a certain amount of money. I don't remember it was several thousand dollars I got a working authorization To be able to work legally I couldn't cross the border back and that's a if you work and you pay your taxes and you're a outstanding citizen this Little red card eventually will become a temporary green card Eventually a green card and by the time I was a Harvard Medical School. I became a US citizen That was my trajectory. So get us to Harvard Medical School from this community college This was the San Joaquin San Joaquin Delta College and then you studied there and then you made your way to Berkeley as I recall. Yes, Berkeley was It was amazing. This is around the time. This is 1991 to 1994. What was the how what was the transition? It's so I mean You've already indicated you had mentors. Was it a mentor who got you to Berkeley? It was a I found a lot of mentors people say you should apply to college and I said what do you mean? I am a community college. I said no. No, this is beyond that. You got to go to university a four-year university So I applied I mean a lot of people say how do you get to Berkeley and how do you got to Harvard? And I said well the moment you apply your chances just go up really they really do you'd be surprised So I did I applied and I you know I got a combination of good luck good mentorship vision being able to do well in your exams Everything comes together and I was like remember when I interviewed for Harvard Medical School sitting by the time at this point I had long hair had a long ponytail and I remember they came to you know, we all did we all did I was in the room. This is 91 94 that we had Andrew Martinez who was walking around naked. I used to Berkeley I didn't but he was and so it was an incredible time and I had a just a connection With this institution not only Berkeley, but also the Harvard Medical School So they the trajectory was I mean I can't say that it was easy I mean people tease me now this because they asked me if Harvard Medical School was difficult and I say You know compared to being a migrant farm worker. I knew exactly what I needed to do I just needed to get up every day at four in the morning, which is no different than what I do today today I get up every day I get up seven days a week I get up a four day four o'clock in the morning go to bed at midnight every single day 365 days a year and Continually and I done that since I was a little four hours of sleep a night more or less It's unfair and you know more or less more less and sometimes less You know it's under someone call all night. I mean that's you know I think it was why but it's not like I would get up in the morning and I'm not tired I'm tired just like everybody else in a 4 a.m. The alarm was off and I'm going like this I'm tired just like everybody else But I still have that desire to make a difference in this country, right? I mean it you know what what you've described doesn't happen easily for anyone US citizen Or as you were undocumented immigrant who then legalized himself I mean it's clear that you you you've been clearing offenses time and time again throughout your life Not metaphorically speaking I mean that takes guts. It takes energy. It takes drive ambition Determined, you know tremendous self-confidence. I mean what what drives you well I would say it takes all those things But it also takes a wonderful country and I still think that what I have been able to do here in the United States I don't think I would have been able to do it anywhere else and we know we argue and we say You know sometimes we say well, it's not ideal But I still think that we have a beautiful country in it and a ground that is fertile for people who want to succeed And no matter how difficult we make it or not people who want to succeed in this country They will it may take instead of 10 years that it took me to get to harbor Maybe if I would come today, it would take me 20 or 30. Why is that? Well, because I think the atmosphere is changed, you know when I first came in the 1980s this country say come over We welcome you work in the fields. No problem. We want you we need you in nowadays. It's like, you know It's a big hassle. There's a lot of negativity a lot of you know sort of Difficult time that the country is going through and I think that the first thing that we do is we look around and say Who can we blame? You know, but I think it takes that that particular drive all those things that you mentioned plus a wonderful fertile ground I think the ground was probably more fertile in the 1980s at least for me the way I see it today would be much more challenging So to go back to I mean what is driving you and how much did being Coming from fairly desperate circumstances with you where you were concerned about actually Having food on the table How much has that did that drive you? I imagine it did initially how much has it continued to drive you? I would say that it drives me every day I still think of myself as that little kid that you'll see in the back of my book You know people always tease me because there's a picture of me where my head is as big as my shoulders And now as a brain surgeon I can tell you that I do not have water in the brain is called hydrocephalus Although my friends at Hopkins they tease me about that I am the same kid with the same ambitions and I define my goals You know right now my goal is very simple even though it's very complex I want to find a cure for brain cancer and I have dedicated my life Since I was a medical student in a resident to find a cure for brain cancer And that's what I wake up every single day. Why because my patients our country is going through a desperate time Do we have time for some questions? No, no no time for questions. Okay, well you asked all the questions already. So I have kind of I apologize I could talk to dr. Q all afternoon long I just want to ask one question. Are you engaged at all in in any sort of political advocacy or in on in the issue of immigration I You know I I have gotten more involved especially the last two years I wanted to secure a position it took me six years to be promoted to full professor Hopkins Which in my department the only other person who's taken 12 years as my chairman so I accelerated all them all always Takes about 18 years So I wanted to secure a position where I was a full professor at Hopkins And that's when I published my book this year and I have gotten more involved and I realized that if we don't do Something to change the current atmosphere and to change the discussion. We won't be able to move forward. Thank you Dr. Canionist. Thank you very much