Meet Our Scholars

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Puerto Rico, Miguel Angel Jimenez is a second-year medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine with interests in neurosurgery, cancer research, health equity, and social justice. He graduated with honors from the University of Central Florida in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences and secondary coursework in European history and comparative literature. During his undergraduate career, Miguel volunteered extensively at Shepherd’s Hope free clinics, where he assisted in the medical care of hundreds of uninsured patients in Central Florida. His work with underserved and marginalized communities imparted him with particular interests in patient advocacy and human rights. Most notably, he founded an anti-child-trafficking organization on his college campus and collaborated with nonprofits and NGOs to open the state’s first emergency shelter for abused women and two new safe homes for victimized youth in Florida. An avid researcher, Miguel has conducted extensive work on brain tumor biology and neurosurgical outcomes, and his work has been published in Nature and World Neurosurgery. Currently, he is engaged in various multi-institutional projects aimed at improving quality of life and reducing disparities for patients with brain and skull base tumors.