Jose-Luis Ruiz

Dr. Jose-Luis Ruiz is an author, professor, film producer, activist and a highly respected Cosmetic Dentist. Born in Mexico City, he relocated to the United States as a young man and experienced firsthand the life of a Mexican immigrant. Under the pen name J.L. Ruiz, he is a best-selling Mexican American novelist. His novel, Irreversible Damage: The Katie Suarez Social Justice Series, is the winner of three prestigious international Latino Book awards, including Best Latino Focused Fiction Novel, and Best Novel (Adventure or Drama-English). Most recently, he published The First Cowboy: The Collision of Two Great Cultures, an extensively researched historical fiction novel. As a film producer, he executive produced The First Cowboy, a short film based on his novel. He is also the Film Festival director of The Mexican American Film & Television Festival (MAFTF), and produces The Illustrious Awards, a distinguished awards ceremony. Dr. Ruiz is a passionate activist and over the last 25 years has been involved in forming and supporting multiple non-profit organizations to promote the dentistry profession amongst the Latino community. More recently, he founded the Mexican American Cultural Education Foundation (MACEF) with the mission to change the false and distorted Mexican American narrative portrayed in most film and television. Dr. Ruiz is the author of the textbook Supra-Gingival Minimally Invasive Dentistry, published by Wiley Blackwell, and is the author of many published and peer-reviewed research and clinical articles. He is one of the most respected and coveted speakers on cosmetic dentistry in the country and is a former course director at the University of Southern California (USC).