Omar P. Sangüeza, MD was born in La Paz, Bolivia. Following graduation from San Ignacio High School in La Paz, he began his medical studies at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres. He later transferred to the Universidad Literaria in Valencia, Spain, where he received his MD and studied Dermatology. He returned to Bolivia and began working with his father, the renowned pathologist and Dermatopathologist, Pastor Sangüeza. From 1987-1991 he completed a residency in pathology at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon, followed by a year as the Holtzman Fellow in Dermatopathology working with the late A. Bernard Ackerman, MD at New York University.
Following brief tenures in Oregon and at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Dr. Sangüeza became a professor and director of Dermatopathology at Wake Forest University Medical Center where he remains today. At Wake, Omar is in charge of the Fellowship program and has trained more than 70 national and international fellows in Dermatopathology. In addition, he has instituted an international fellowship, training both dermatologists and pathologists from all over Latin America, Spain and the Middle East in the field of Dermatopathology. In 2014, he was awarded the Walter R. Nickel Award for Excellence in Teaching of Dermatopathology. He served for 6 years as the Secretary/ Treasurer and President of the International Society of Dermatopathology. He was also elected to the Board of Directors of the American Society of Dermatopathology from 2010-2013. He was also elected President of International Committee for Dermatopathology from 2014-16. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Dermatopathology. He has been an invited lecturer throughout the world and authored more than 200 publications. He has also published several books in Dermatopathology.