Rear Admiral Eleanor V. Valentin, U.S. Navy Retired (left) is the 2010 Women of Color Technologist of the Year.

In 2009, she became the 16th director of the Medical Service Corps, making her the first female Medical Service Corps officer to obtain the rank of flag officer, as well as the first female to serve as Navy Medical Service Corps director. She was the second Filipino-American woman to achieve the rank of Rear Admiral.

Supporting her nomination for the 2010 Women of Color Technologist of the Year Award, Adm. Gary Roughead, the then chief of Naval Operations, said he had “witnessed firsthand her passion, dedication, and commitment to the health, welfare, and morale, of our Sailors and Marines around the world...Eleanor clearly stands out as a trendsetter who meets challenges head-on and masterfully delivers critical leadership,” he wrote.

After receiving her Bachelor of Science degrees in zoology and psychology at the University of Washington, she completed a master’s in public health (health policy and planning), and a Master of Science in public health (biostatistics) at the University of Hawaii.

In 1982, she was commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade, Medical Service Corps, United States Navy, and for the next decade, she served in a variety of department head and administrative officer positions at Naval Hospital San Diego; Admiral J.T. Boone Branch Medical Clinic in Norfolk, Va.; Naval Medical Clinic Norfolk; U.S. Naval Hospital Guam; Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C.; and U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka, Japan.

Valentin served as director for administration at Naval Medical Clinic in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from 1994 to 1997. Following that duty, she reported to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and became the branch head for TRICARE Marketing and Communications.

In October 2000, Valentin became the director of regional operations, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) TRICARE Management Activity. There, she led staff and joint service teams in developing plans and strategies to implement statutory and policy guidance for the delivery of health care services to eligible beneficiaries worldwide.

Her subsequent assignments included executive officer, Naval Hospital Corpus Christi, Texas; commanding officer, Naval Hospital/Health Clinic Cherry Point, North Carolina; and chief of staff, Navy Medicine National Capital Area.

From September 2009 to July 2012, she served in her first flag tour as commander of the Navy Medicine Support Command, and from October 2009 through August 2012, she was the first female and 16th director of the Medical Service Corps.

She retired in 2014 as the director of the Military Health System (MHS) Governance Implementation Planning Executive Secretariat, a team that supports plans to establish a new governance model for the MHS.

Valentin achieved fellow status in the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Academy of Healthcare Management.