Dr. Ruiz is HealthPartners Hospice and Community Based Palliative Care medical director and also a member of the palliative care team at Regions Hospital, St. Paul, Minnesota. He has been involved in several equitable and palliative care efforts and projects through the years. He currently co-sponsor Regions’ Health Equity Committee. He practiced as an Internal Medicine hospitalist over fifteen years at Regions Hospital where he also served as chief of staff in 2014-2015. Earlier in his career he was an internist at the West Side Community Health Services/La Clinica and there he founded the HIV Primary Care program which serves Latino and other communities of color. He is an expert in the area of Advanced Care Planning in diverse communities, a member of the board of directors of Minnesota Hospice and Palliative Care (MNHPC), and of CLUES (Comunidades Latinas Unidas enServicio)