Rate My Professor Kelly Gallagher

Kelly Gallagher serves as Assistant Research Professor in the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing at Penn State. She holds a PhD from the University of North Dakota, an MS from the University of California San Francisco, a BSN from the University of Minnesota, and a BA from The Evergreen State College. A certified nurse-midwife, Gallagher brings nearly two decades of clinical experience supporting women through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care, along with prior hospital leadership roles focused on maternity care quality and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Her research centers on the placenta, maternal nutrition, gestational diabetes mellitus, and women’s health, with particular emphasis on low- and middle-income countries and efforts to advance health equity. She contributes as co-investigator on projects including the development of AI-driven tools for placental image analysis and software to assess placenta images at birth, funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Gallagher teaches courses such as N835: Doctor of Nursing Practice Project and N200W: Principles of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice, mentors DNP and PhD students, and serves on committees including the DNP admission committee. She has published in journals including PLoS One, Patterns, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, and participates in professional organizations such as the American College of Nurse-Midwives.