Cipriano Gonzalez
Cipriano Gonzalez’s distinguished career in healthcare started at Richland College. He took most of his undergraduate courses at Richland, maintaining a 3.8 GPA, while preparing to enter the physician assistant program at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern).
His professors at Richland said Cipriano was “a joy to have as a student – inquisitive, friendly, helpful, optimistic.” But his educational goals were not attained easily. Cipriano’s first application to the physician assistant (PA) program at UT Southwestern was rejected.
Undeterred, Cipriano went all out to maximize his chances for the next year’s admissions. He volunteered, rewrote his personal essays, and sought the advice of PA students.His determination paid off and he was admitted the second time.
After finishing the program at UT Southwestern, Cipriano was board certified and went on to work in the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, a world renowned facility.
In January 2005, Cipriano was named M.D. Anderson’s outstanding employee of the month. His colleagues recognized him for the dedication and care he showed to patients facing the terrible and frightening diagnosis of cancer.
In his work with critical-care patients at M.D. Anderson, Cipriano’s job was to ease the fears of patients, family members and caregivers by providing important information about available treatments and side effects, clinical trials and quality-of-life issues. One colleague said, “Cipriano realizes anxiety levels are high, especially while waiting for pathology and radiology results. It’s not uncommon for him to stay late to find out the lab results and communicate them to the patients.”
Cipriano said, “The best part of my job is getting to know each patient and being there for them. It's like reading a story, each with its own tragedies and victories.”
Cipriano continues to show the same compassion and dedication in his new job in the Division of Medical Oncology at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance in Washington.