Dr. Gloria Valencia Retires After Nearly Four Decades at SUNY Downstate

By Office of The President | Nov 29, 2022

After nearly four decades at Downstate, Dr. Gloria Valencia has announced her retirement as Director of the Newborn Service at the University Hospital at Downstate and as Vice-Chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Valencia completed her residency and fellowship training at SUNY Downstate-Kings County Hospital Centers in 1983. And she never left. It was during that time that she realized her love of working with sick babies in the NICU and knew that caring for these special little patients was her calling.

Dr. Valencia has led and maintained the operation of the NICU as one of 17 Regional Perinatal Centers in New York State, spearheading advancements in newborn care in Brooklyn.

She is proud that Downstate was the first NICU to offer Surfactant to Premature infants, the first to use high-frequency ventilators and inhaled nitric oxide (discovered by Dr. Robert F. Furchgott), the first to apply therapeutic hypothermia for infants born with  HIE, and teaching Advanced Neonatal Resuscitation for trainees, nurses, RTs, orchestrating a complete high-risk transport team for inter-hospital transports, and modernizing transport equipment. These efforts all helped to decrease neonatal mortality.

Equally crucial to Dr. Valencia is her love for teaching—medical and physician assistant students, Pediatric and Emergency Medicine House Staff, and Neonatal subspecialty trainees in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine—many of whom are also now NICU Directors.

Dr. Valencia oversaw patient safety and quality improvement in medical care for the Department of Pediatrics for more than 15 years.  She is also a member of the current New York State Perinatal Task Force, whose rulings enforce the operations of all birthing hospitals throughout the state.

Working with sick babies, many of whom are often premature, requires a special bond with each child. She treats each baby as her own, forming a special relationship that helps to ease worried parents’ anxieties.

A mother of four, also married to an obstetrician, Dr. Valencia, proud of her Filipino roots, is thankful for the institutional, hospital, and departmental leadership support, her colleagues, NICU nurses, respiratory therapists, and social workers, who provide much-needed comfort and emotional support for the parents of sick children. She describes her work as joyful and meaningful, fully understanding the impact of resuscitating a sick child and the joy of having a baby graduate from the NICU to head home with their loved ones.

Over the years, with similar visions for a Maternal-Child Center here at Downstate, Dr. Valencia has proudly shared her NICU with visitors, the SUNY Board of Trustees, Chancellors, and countless New York State elected officials, stressing the importance of quality neonatal care. Always an inspiration, we proudly featured Dr. Valencia during Women’s History Month in 2020.

Dr. Valencia leaves Downstate with a legacy that inspires others. We bid her a warm “Masayang pagreretiro” (happy retirement).