Renowned surgeon Ruben Quintero joins Miller Faculty

Renowned surgeon Dr. Ruben Quintero, 50, is joining the faculty of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital. Famous for his innovative work regarding prenatal surgery, Quintero developed the field of operative fetoscopy, which includes using minimally invasive techniques for operating on babies in utero.

 Quintero comes to UM from the University of South Florida, where he worked from the end of 2005 until the beginning of 2009. Prior to that, he held the position of medical director of St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital from 1996 until 2005. He is credited with pioneering the selective laser surgery technique used in treating twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) and proposed the staging classification of the syndrome used around the world.

 Quintero, whose USF biography lists embryoscopy, fetoscopy, and prenatal diagnosis as some of his interests, will become the director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and will also teach courses in obstetrics and gynecology.

His hiring is part of UM’s campaign to establish the medical school as one of the world’s foremost research centers and the effort to create a multimillion-dollar center in fetal therapy research. In an interview with The Miami Herald, Dr. Leo Twiggs, chairman of the medical school’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said, “It’s really exciting to get a doctor of his caliber.” According to Twiggs, Quintero is one of a handful of doctors who use his methodology. UM/Jackson hope to join Columbia University and the University of California at San Diego in the top tier of fetal research centers.

Quintero, a native of Venezuela, received his medical degree at Caracas’ Universidad Central de Venezuela Medical School in 1983. He completed his residency at Yale University School of Medicine and practiced at Wayne State University in Detroit along with St. Joseph’s. He starts at UM/Jackson on March 1.