Dagoberto Salinas

Dagoberto Salinas, a native of Laredo, Texas, began his undergraduate studies at Texas A&M International University in 1998 while attending high school. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and completed Basic Recruit Training in Great Lakes, Illinois in September 1999.

His first naval assignment was aboard USS Valley Forge (CG-50), where he was assigned to First Division/Operations Department as an undesignated deck seaman. While in the fleet, he completed a six-month Counter-drug Operations deployment to the Eastern Pacific/Caribbean in 2000 and competed in the 2001 South Pacific Navy Wrestling Team.

In May 2005, Dagoberto graduated from the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing under the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NROTC)—Nurse Corps (NC) Option Program. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies, he earned the Outstanding Bachelor of Science in Nursing and NROTC Distinguished Midshipman awards. He was commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy NC and assigned to the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, Maryland.

While at NNMC Bethesda (2005-2008), he provided care to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) patients on a post-surgical unit and further expanded his skills as a neonatal intensive care unit nurse. In 2008, he was selected to attend the Navy NC Perioperative Nursing Course in Jacksonville, Florida.

During his first perioperative nursing assignment, he assumed duties as General Surgery Charge Nurse at Naval Hospital Okinawa, Japan (2008-2011), maintaining oversight of a $300K budget. During this tour, he deployed to Herat, Afghanistan, in 2010, where he provided 600 hours of clinical instruction to Afghan National Army surgeons and nurses as a Medical Combat Advisor.

Dagoberto relocated to Naval Medical Center San Diego, California (2011-2014), where he led as clinical coordinator for a multi-specialty suite that averaged 1,000 surgical cases per month. He was selected as the Command’s Nurse Corps Midshipman Cruise Coordinator and nominated as Junior Officer of the Year in 2012. In 2013, he deployed to the Combat Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

He attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing under the Duty Under Instruction Program (2014-2016), earning an Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) Masters of Science in Nursing degree and a Post-Masters Certificate in Nursing Education. He completed his CNS utilization tour at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Florida (2016-2019) where he directed and executed clinical functions on a multi-service unit. He authored four nursing journal publications and five national conference presentations, earning distinction as a “Great 100 Nurses of Northeast Florida” in research and evidence-based practice.

While assigned to the Navy Medicine Training Support Center (2019-2023), Dagoberto excelled in multiple high-visibility roles, including Compliance Officer, Public Affairs Officer, Quality Council Co-chair, and Executive Steering Committee Sponsor. He also provided academic support through didactic and lab instruction at Hospital Corpsman Basic, an entry-level medical technician school that trains an average of 4,200 students annually. Additionally, he monitored compliance and provided technical support for 28 medical treatment facilities as the Navy’s NC Competency Program Manager.

Dagoberto retired from the Navy Nurse Corps in May 2023 and subsequently launched his entrepreneurship journey by founding CLINSPEC Solutions, LLC, a consulting company that implements virtual reality (XR) technology in hospital and academic settings. He enjoys playing chess, running, writing, and spending quality time with his wife and two daughters.