• Medical School
  Universidad de Navarra, 2010
• Residency
  General Surgery, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2018
• Fellowship
  Complex General Surgical Oncology, John Wayne Cancer Institute, 2020

My research is focused in two areas. First, my basic and translation research interest is on breast cancer personalized therapies in the continuum of patient care by utilizing patient derived breast cancer organoids. Second, I focus on research on reducing breast health racial and ethnic disparities with community Lay Navigators.

See publications for Juan A. Santamaria, MD

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How did you fall in love with your field?

I became a cancer doctor because of my father, who is a medical oncologist in Panama. As a teenager, I was able to go to his clinic and also observed cancer surgeries in the operating room. Seeing the surgeons in action convinced me to become a surgeon myself.

Being a surgical oncologist offers me the opportunity to treat cancer with a multidisciplinary team approach, which in my opinion is the best possible way to treat cancer. Performing cancer operations is highly rewarding, since one has the immediate ability to render a patient cancer-free.

 Three things people may not know about you:

• I have three Weimaraner show dogs that are absolutely insane.
• I was born in Detroit MI, but I grew up in Panama.
• I traveled to over 20 countries while in medical school with a musical group called "La Tuna", and I used to play the lute.