Born and raised in Mexico City, Juan Ruiz-Healy's father, Dr Fidel Ruiz Moreno was a former congressman and an internationally respected Mexican surgeon leader in the field of Gastroenterology and Proctology.

In 1976 he wrote and directed for Telesistema Mexicano a documentary on cellist and composer Pablo Casals' oratorio, El Pesebre (The Manger), an interpretive illustration with the participation of world-renowned cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional which was transmitted live, from Mexico's Palace of Fine Arts, via satellite, to various parts of the world.

Ruiz-Healy's popularity as a newscaster and journalist is attested by the furor created when he left the TV monopoly Telesistema Mexicano in the early 1970s to become News Director and anchor for their main competition, Television Independiente de Mexico (T.I.M.

Ruiz-Healy pitched the idea to Televisa's CEO Emilio Azcarraga Milmo who titled it 60 Minutes, after the landmark CBS program creating a legal tension between the two companies.

In the tightly controlled media environment of the late 1970s and 1980s, 60 Minutes was the first program to openly criticize the government and business establishment and to address important social issues, making it one of the most highly rated shows in the history of Mexican television.

Juan Ruiz-Healy received in 1983 the Premio Nacional de Periodismo (National Journalism Medal) for his role as anchorman and investigative reporter.

Because of multiple censorships in 60 Minutes, Ruiz-Healy moved to the United States in 1984, where he co-anchored, along with Teresa Rodriguez, for the national news telecast of S.I.N, Spanish International Network (renamed Univision in 1986); where he was also a reporter and liaison for Mexican affairs.

From 1984–2003 Ruiz-Healy served as editor and writer for the 4-page political and economic Sunday section, A Fondo (In Depth), published in the former Novedades, one of the top national newspapers in Mexico.

He wrote a daily column for The News, Latin America's largest English-language newspaper (1997–2003), and feature articles for Excelsior (2004) and Unomásuno (2003).