Obituary: Dr. Rafael del Sagrado Corazon Ruiz Rodriguez

Article from USA

Dr. Rafael Ruiz Rodriguez "Rafa"

Saturday, August 3, 2024, was a very sad day when Dr. Rafael del Sagrado Corazon Ruiz Rodriguez, DDS passed away at the age of 72 (born September 21, 1952). Dr. Rafael Ruiz Rodriguez (“Rafa” to his friends) trained at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, Mexico with additional surgical training in Corpus Christi, Texas. Rafa was past-President of the Mexican Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. He was Professor and Chairman and Director of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at UNAM for many years. 

As the Director of the Cleft Lip and Palate program at UNAM, he and his team travelled on mission trips throughout Mexico to care for those children and adults who had limited or no access to care for their cleft lip and palate deformities. During these mission trips, Rafa would unselfishly invite teams of international surgeons, many from the USA, to join him so that he could teach the principles and practice of cleft lip and palate care to surgeons so that they would be able to take these skills back to their practices to care for cleft lip and palate patients.

Typically, OMS residents and faculty members from the USA would travel to one of the many sites in Mexico to join Rafa and his team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, orthodontists, and prosthodontists, and the patient volume over a three-day mission trip would include more than one hundred patients of all ages and all types of cleft and craniofacial deformities.

Rafa also travelled internationally to many sites, such as Palestine, to care for cleft patients with limited access to care. Rafa was also a member of the Mexican, American (AAOMS), International (IAOMS), Ecuadorian, Bolivian, Colombian, and Venezuelan Associations of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Dr. Ruiz Rodriguez has been awarded numerous honors from OMS Societies and Associations in North America, Latin America, South America, as well as international organizations. Rafa has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally, and he was well-known and respected for his extensive knowledge and surgical experience in the practice of cleft lip and palate repair. He provided lectures at more than 25 AAOMS Annual Meetings over the years and has published nearly 50 peer-reviewed publications in our specialty. Rafa dedicated his entire life to treating cleft lip and palate patients and to teaching residents as well as senior surgeons these principles.

Those who were fortunate enough to know Rafa as a friend, loved his positive attitude, unselfish nature, humor, honesty, intelligence, surgical acumen, and love for his family and his religious dedication. He is truly missed.