Leone Cruz, CNNP

Leone Cruz is a board-certified neonatal nurse practitioner, providing specialized, coordinated care for newborns and infants at Valley Children’s Regional Level IV NICU.

With more than 20 years of experience as a bedside nurse and four as a neonatal nurse practitioner, Leone brings a strong commitment to continuous learning and practice improvement, and to providing compassionate, evidence-based care to families in the NICU. Her clinical interests include the management of extremely preterm infants and providing education to bedside staff and families to improve patient outcomes.

For nearly 20 years, Leone has been actively engaged in NICU education, operations and bedside care at Valley Children’s, holding positions as a manager of Valley Children’s regional satellite NICUs, NICU clinical educator, and NICU nurse. Prior to her time at Valley Children’s, Leone provided family-centered care to mothers and newborns as a labor and delivery registered nurse at Madera Community Hospital.

Leone received a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree, specializing as a neonatal nurse practitioner, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2021. She values ongoing professional development and holds professional affiliations with the National Association of Neonatal Nurses, the National Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners, and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

In her free time, Leone enjoys traveling, family time with her children and grandchildren, and working on home projects with her husband.