S4 Ep 9: Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

This week we sit down with Maria Vazquez Roque, MD, MSc to discuss screening for colon cancer and cancer disparities in the hispanic population in recognition of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

Dr. Vazquez Roque is from San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2003, she completed her medical degree at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus. In 2008 she finished her internal medicine residency in Puerto Rico. She then pursued a Gastroenterology fellowship in the NIH training grant at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota. After graduating from GI fellowship, she began to work in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic Florida in April 2012.

She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, the Associate Chair for the Outpatient Practice for the Department of Medicine, and Medical Director for Accreditation and Supply Chain for Mayo Clinic Florida. She championed and developed the Fecal Microbiota Transplant program at the Mayo Clinic Florida campus for patients who suffer from recurrent episodes of Clostridium difficile infection and to date has conducted over 200 procedures with success. She is actively participating in research studies evaluating the role of the gut microbiome in immunotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitor colitis.