Dr Valencia Walker Bio

Dr. Valencia P. Walker recently joined Nationwide Children’s Hospital as Associate Chief Diversity and Health Equity Officer. She also holds joint appointments as Associate Division Chief of Health Equity and Inclusion for the Division of Neonatology and Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Department of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. A practicing neonatologist, she champions the elimination of maternal and infant health inequities. Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther tapped Dr. Walker to join CelebrateOne’s Strategic Planning Operational Working Group which focuses on decreasing infant mortality rates, particularly for Black babies in the Columbus, Ohio area. A physician leader within organized medicine, Dr. Walker was newly elected to the Executive Committee of the AAP’s Section on Minority Health Equity and Inclusion, in addition to her current position as Program Chair for the Section. Previously, she served as president for the Association of Black Women Physicians, a nonprofit organization dedicated to diversifying the physician workforce, advocating for under-resourced communities and promoting health equity. Dr. Walker completed her undergraduate studies at Florida A&M University and obtained her medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine. She finished a Pediatrics residency at UT Memphis and a Neonatology fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Prior to joining Nationwide Children’s Hospital, she was an Assistant Dean of Equity and Diversity Inclusion for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and received a MPH in Health Policy from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.