Anatolio B. Cruz, Jr.

Clinical Professor at UT Health San Antonio. Dr. Cruz, a surgical specialist trained at the University of Minnesota, was the first UT Health San Antonio chief of surgical oncology; Dr. Cruz recently semi-retired after 35 years with the university. Dr. Cruz was principal investigator for the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project at UT Health San Antonio, helping prove that lumpectomy or segmental mastectomy was as effective as total mastectomy in cure rates and was less mutilating. He also was instrumental in promoting the blue dye-radioisotope sentinel node biopsy procedure on lymph nodes in a patient’s axilla, which is now being widely tested throughout the US and Canada.