A shining star in southern Arizona

How Rogelio Robles-Morales was inspired to address health disparities in his community

Rogelio Robles-Morales, MD, began his medical career as an obstetrician-gynecologist in Nogales, Son., Mexico. However, during his residency, he had the opportunity to gain experience in various other subspecialties or fellowships related to obstetrics and gynecology. Morales said this introduction to gynecological oncology inspired him to pursue a career in cancer care and research. 

“I assisted an oncologist in a surgery that was so delicate and intricate—it amazed me,” Robles-Morales said. “I couldn’t imagine my hands doing this kind of work. And when you talk to cancer patients, you both understand you’re giving your all because that’s all you’ve got.”

As an OBGYN, Robles-Morales said much of his work was focused on the joy of welcoming a new life. However, he embraced the challenge and triumph of fighting cancer and saving lives. Robles-Morales credits his team approach to patient care for the reason he makes meaningful connections with his patients.

“I always try to portray myself as their ally. I always use the word 'team.' Your family and I are a team fighting against this, and we have this special connection.” said Robles-Morales.

During his residency years, Robles-Morales was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. He said he was afraid his lifetime as a surgeon would be decreased due to the long surgeries in Oncology, and he wanted to remain active helping cancer patients for a longer time. 

Amplifying his impact on patients

Robles-Morales entered the doctoral program in Clinical Translational Sciences at the University of Arizona, focusing on prevention methods that could benefit his hometown of Nogales and other underserved communities. He said his now-mentor, Cynthia A. Thomson, PhD, stuck out to him as a leader in women’s health initiatives in southern Arizona and drew him to the university.

“I felt that in order to be more impactful during my practice, I needed to do something that will not only help the patient in front of me, but it can transcend to the community,” said Robles-Morales. “I have gained a lot of Public Health experience and knowledge from her, which helped me get more in touch with my community. I have come to understand that a great goal for any research project is policy change or to create a facility. That way your work keeps on going without you, and may lead to even more discoveries.”

Joint efforts with great mentors

During his doctoral studies, Robles-Morales participated in the Vida Plena study led by Thomson to improve the uptake of American Cancer Society guidelines for cancer survivorship. She encouraged him to use his expertise as an OBGYN to aid his translational research.

“I bring the clinical perspective of what the difficulties are during treatment, if patients are going to be eligible, and expertise in other terminologies and concepts during the process,” said Robles-Morales. “I’ve also recruited some of my own patients to join the study. It’s hard to get people to think about things like physical activity and nutrition after heavy chemo surgery. With this, I'm taking responsibility to say, ‘I am the surgeon, I am taking care of the pre-op and the postdoc and the healing after they go through chemo.’”

Thomson also connected him with an additional mentor, Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, MPH, PhD, Health Promotion Sciences associate professor, and University of Arizona Cancer Center member with similar clinician and public health expertise. She shares his vision of bringing global health strategies to local communities.

Madhivanan and Robles-Morales applied the experience they gained in other settings around the world to spark the idea of using community health workers to increase cervical cancer screening and vaccination. The project involves including community health workers as a liaison between the community and healthcare setting to get patients to self-collect a sample so they are not subjected to a much more invasive, pelvic exam.

 “A lot of cultures do not feel comfortable about having a pelvic exam,” said Madhivanan. “This is something that I've already done in India and we're trying to replicate that here in the United States. We thought we will use community health workers to get patients comfortable about self-sampling, and then we’ll also test urine to see in the future, if we can remove the idea of getting a vaginal swab to screen for cervical cancer.”

Morales echoed this passion for improving screening procedures for cervical cancer. 

“Women’s cancer screenings are often more invasive and uncomfortable than those for men,” he said. “I'm advocating for a less invasive procedure for women to screen because everyone understands that if you need a deeper evaluation after an initial screening, everyone will go through it. But going for something that invasive, just to get screened? It seems wrong. How is it possible that we're screening woman with the same procedures that was invented almost 100 years ago?”

Going the extra mile to achieve results

Madhivanan said the scale of this project was so large they had to come up with a plan for uninsured women who needed follow-up procedures after the screening. The two decided to provide free treatment to these patients at Robles-Morales’ clinic in Mexico, and he has led multiple fundraising events to cover the expenses.

Madhivanan calls Robles-Morales a “shining star” in cancer research and prevention, adding that his background of practicing medicine in Mexico leads to unique thinking and problem-solving.

“We are doing out-of-the-box strategies to make this happen,” said Madhivanan. “He’s a doctoral student and my practice is in India, but we are very similar culturally and the way we think. We wanted to see if there was some way we can kind of shake the status quo and have a paradigm shift in terms of applying some of the strategies we have used in global health settings right here in our backyard in the United States.”

She said Robles-Morales’ unique combination of drive and humility is key to his success as a researcher and clinician.

“He’s one of those rare individuals who has the empathy, intelligence, and dedication to truly make a difference,” said Madhivanan. “He’s not pursuing his PhD for credentials—he’s already an MD. He’s doing it because he wants to help people. I would rate him in the top 1% of all the students I have worked with.”

Robles-Morales’ journey is a testament to his dedication to improving cancer care. He is an example of how combining empathy and out-of-box thinking can amplify patient care, and extend into the community.