Dr. Cruz is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Allied Medical Professions, Circulation Technology Division. His professional background in Respiratory Physiology and Anesthesiology is extensive covering different specialty areas within his profession which he has practiced in several countries. Dr. Julio Cruz was born in Sullana, Peru and graduated in 1963 from the Medical School San Fernando, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru. For 15 years, he worked for Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. After obtaining an NIH fellowship, he began to work at University of Buffalo (formerly State University of New York at Buffalo). He collaborated with Drs. Hermann Rahn and Leon E. Farhi at the Department of Physiology. Dr. Julio Cruz also worked with the US Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine as a senior NRC fellow. His career took a decisive turn in 1978 when he and his family migrated to the United States. Dr. Cruz did his residency at the Department of Anesthesiology, The Ohio State University, becoming an Anesthesiologist in 1983. Later on, he worked at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo. During his sabbatical year in 1990-1991, he conducted research in respiratory physiology at the Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany.

Shortly after retiring from his medical practice in 1998, invited by Dr. Richard Tallman --whom he knows since his residency years--, Dr. Julio Cruz returned to Ohio State University as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Allied Medical Professions, Circulation Technology Division. Drs. Cruz and Tallman are developing a Web-based course in Spanish on Respiratory Physiology.
When I met Dr. Cruz, I was impressed with his long-life career across cultures and different medical fields. He had to overcome many obstacles and challenges. Bureaucratic problems delayed his migration to the United States to continue his research. Once Dr. Cruz finalized his residency in anesthesiology, and started to work in the Medical College in Toledo, he found he barely had enough time to dedicate to his own research in alveolar gas mixing and gas exchange. All these problems could have discouraged the weak, but Dr. Julio César Cruz, hard worker and dedicated researcher, continued finding time to conduct research. Although he is retired, he has not stopped working on his research interest centered on alveolar gas mixing and gas exchange. This spring, he presented two posters at the annual meeting of Experimental Biology 2004. Dr Cruz will return to Universidad Nacional de Piura in Peru where he teaches Respiratory Physiology to medical students and graduate researchers from different areas. Dr. Julio Cruz is the founder of the Center for Teaching, Research and Services (Centro de Enseñanza, Investigación y Servicios, www.ong-ceis.org.pe), supported by the endowment fund from the Peruvian American Medical Association. The main purpose of this Center is to form scientists who will transmit the basic science knowledge for a better practice of medicine. Dr. Cruz explains that: "My experience as an anesthesiologist, coupled to my background in physiology, allowed me to observe that my colleagues did not apply properly the basic knowledge of the basic sciences." He is also preparing an introductory book in Spanish on respiratory physiology that gathers all the knowledge he collected through years of hard work and research.

From his experience, he understands that: "Latin@s are surely capable of overcoming challenges and competing globally."