Yelitza Ruiz Candelaria, MD
Dr. Yelitza Ruiz Candelaria is an Integrative Oncologist and Hematologist with private practice at the Centro Oncológico Integral de Puerto Rico in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.
Since she was a little girl, she showed much interest in sciences and archeology when she used to scour the Sunday newspaper in search of stories on fossils and ancient cultures. At the age of 8, she witnessed her grandma get diagnosed with anemia, and without the availability of bone marrow transplants at the time, she watched how her grandma was sent home to die without any hope of recovery. It was then when young Yelitza saw her grandma heal herself using a combination of a natural, balanced diet and teas made from medicinal plants. The doctors were astonished by her recovery and this sparked in Yelitza the desire to help others through medicine.
Her medical career started at the University of Puerto Rico where she was part of the Honor Roll, graduating Magna Cum Laude from the General Science’s faculty and Cum Laude in her Master’s degrees in Biology and Biochemistry. During these years, she reconnected with natural medicine studying how 2 medicinal plants used by our Puerto Rican “jíbaros”, yanten and anamú, inhibited and delayed the metastasis in melanoma cancers.
After earning her medical degree from the Universidad Central del Caribe, where she belonged to the Student Council and served as student representative of the American Medical Student Association, she completed her Internal Medicine residency at Hospital Universitario and her Oncology and Hematology fellowship at the VA Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her work with patients at these hospitals made her realize the importance of bed-side manners, patient empathy and that they are more than “just a number”.
Dr. Ruiz Candelaria is Board-Certified in Internal Medicine. She belongs to the Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine faculty, her alma mater, and is also Clinical Researcher at the Cancer Center Unit at the same institution. Doctor Ruiz considers a privilege to be an educator and to be able to pass on her knowledge and passion for integrative care to a new generation of doctors in Puerto Rico. Her research has been published in various publications and medical journals such as the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the International Journal of Biological Markers, Immunosuppression and the online version of the American Society of Clinical Oncology newsletter.
On 2012 she founded, together with the also integrative oncologist Dr. Madeleine García Soberal, the Centro Oncológico Integral de Puerto Rico (The Integrative Oncology Center of Puerto Rico) in Bayamón to provide a new treatment alternative to cancer patients in Puerto Rico. The Center they are committed to treat cancer patients in a holistic manner – not only focusing on the diagnosed cancer – but treating the patient as a whole, including the body, mind and spirit. The Centro Oncológico Integral de Puerto Rico combines proven traditional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radio therapy, complemented with treatments to help bring more effectiveness, energy and well-being to the patient – such as acupuncture, yoga, nutrition, therapeutic massages, counseling, art therapy, among others.
Dr. Ruiz Candelaria has hospital privileges at the Hospital HIMMA San Pablo and Hermanos Meléndez Hospital, both located in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. To contact Dr. Ruiz Candelaria at the Centro Oncológico Integral de Puerto Rico, please call 787-993-5294 or via email at info@coipr.com.
