Ricardo Flores

Dr. Ricardo J. Flores graduated from University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine with highest honors in 2004. He completed his training in Pediatrics at the University of Puerto Rico Pediatric Hospital in 2007, and his subspecialty training in pediatric hematology/oncology at Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers in 2010. While in medical school, Dr. Flores experienced the death of a very close family member who truly struggled against an aggressive type of leukemia. From this, he recognized that treating patients with cancer and blood diseases required an extremely concerted effort from family and health care providers, and decided to train in the field of hematology/oncology, which encompasses all aspects of the medical profession. During his initial year of hematology/oncology training, Dr. Flores became interested in pediatric bone tumors, especially in the patients who presented with aggressive disease and had limited treatment options. At that time, he resolved to focus his research efforts on the high-risk bone tumor pediatric patients. Beyond his clinical and research duties, Dr. Flores is actively involved in ongoing efforts to promote and advance underrepresented minorities in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM-fields). In 2010, the American STEM Association selected him as member of the Leadership Institute Training Program for the Advancement of Science. In 2011, he was invited to serve as Master of Ceremonies for the Society on the Advancement of Science Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans National Conference, with over 3,000 participants, including Nobel Prize and National Medal of Science recipients. As a result of his scientific and outreach work, he was selected as a 2012 distinguished young physician scientist and interviewed by the National Library of Medicine for their 'Career Pathways” video library. He has also been highly involved with mass media health education, and has participated on dozens of interviews on nationwide radio, newspapers, and TV networks, including Telemundo, Univision and PBS, among others. Since October 2016, Dr. Flores-Hernández has been the Clinical Director of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at the Texas Children’s Hospital’s Woodlands location.