Rodrigo Penalosa was born in the Philippines. He earned his medical degree from the Cebu Institute of Medicine in the Philippines in 1977. Immediately after graduation he did a residency in General Pediatrics, and he remained in the Philippines gaining experience in pediatric practice for several years before immigrating to the United States.

Upon arriving in the States, he did further training in General Pediatrics at St. Joseph Hospital Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1994, he decided to settle in the Hudson Valley with his family. He joined Poughkeepsie Medical Group where he remained for 8 years, building strong relationships with families in the Duchess County community. He subsequently joined Mid-Hudson Medical Group, which later joined with CareMount Medical in 2015, and he remains practicing pediatrics at CareMount since then. Dr. Penalosa has always had a special interest in Infectious Diseases in children. However, he loves all aspects of Pediatrics, which has continued to fulfill him for over 30 years. His greatest satisfaction in Pediatrics is seeing his patients grow up, become parents themselves, and then bring their own children to him, so that he may now be their pediatrician.

His wife is an ICU nurse and his 3 children are all grown. Dr. Penalosa is multilingual, including Tagalog, and his favorite hobby is singing karaoke.