Beatriz Pamela Runkle de la Vega

1948 - 2023

Runkle de la Vega

Beatriz Pamela Runkle de la Vega

Beatriz Pamela Runkle de la Vega, born May 8, 1948, passed away peacefully on December 27, 2023 at Virginia Hospital Center, Arlington, Virginia. She graduated from The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia in 1965. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Spanish Literature from Radcliffe College - Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1970. She subsequently achieved her Doctor of Medicine degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1974. She did her residency training in pediatrics at Georgetown University Hospital and her fellowship in neonatology at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. She worked initially as a neonatologist at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Subsequently and principally, Dr. Runkle was the director of neonatology in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of what is now the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia. She retired from VHC in 2013. Because she loved her work so much, she continued to help cover various neonatology practices in the area.



She is survived by her husband, Dale Lichtblau; her sister Isabelle Runkle de la Vega, and her nephew, Juan Adrian Chafer Runkle. She was loved by all who knew her, family, colleagues, and friends. She will never be forgotten as a brilliant, kind, and wonderful woman.



Funeral services will be held at the Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Herndon Va. on January 4 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery at VHCHealth in memory of Beatriz Runkle, MD. The contact number is (703) 717-4653.