UMSON Names Doran Co-Director of Biology and Behavior Across the Lifespan Organized Research Center

Baltimore, Md. - The University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) has appointed Kelly Doran, PhD ’11, MS ’08, RN, FAAN, associate professor, as co-director of its Biology and Behavior Across the Lifespan (BBAL) Organized Research Center. 

BBAL is one of UMSON’s five research Centers of Excellence. BBAL’s extramurally funded investigators investigate the management of disease and optimization of health as well as the ways biological findings can influence disease prevalence and progression. As a center for shared thinking — within UMSON and across the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) — members pool resources and collaborate on ideas and interventions that promote and sustain health for people of all ages. BBAL members also support, encourage, and facilitate research and researchers in these areas and provide leadership within UMSON that guides research-related activities within biology and behavior across the lifespan.

Doran, a BBAL member since 2012, will serve alongside co-director Nicole “Jennifer” J. Klinedinst, PhD, MPH, RN, FAHA, associate professor. She succeeds Barbara Resnick, PhD ’96, RN, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, professor, Sonya Ziporkin Gershowitz Chair in Gerontology, and UMB Distinguished University Professor, who was appointed associate dean for research. As co-director, Doran will support BBAL-related research activities and ideas among graduate and undergraduate students and faculty. This will include advocating for the research of BBAL members and the growth and deepening of research across UMSON and assisting with the acquisition of new faculty.

Doran has been an UMSON faculty member and researcher since 2012 and has led multiple worksite wellness studies within long-term care facilities. Previously, the American Heart Association (AHA) funded Doran to test the efficacy of a program she created, called the Worksite Heart Health Improvement Project (WHHIP), which aims to reduce cardiovascular health disparities among long-term care staff. Her current AHA-funded grant applies lessons learned from WHHIP to reduce cardiovascular health disparities and reduce staff stress in long-term care by focusing on health promotion behaviors (e.g., exercise and sleep) and organizational changes that reduce job stress based on guidance from worksite stakeholders. These projects have demonstrated improvements in staff behavior and health outcomes as well as increased worker productivity and spillover benefits to residents — with staff serving as healthy role models engaging residents in healthy behaviors. This research is critical to combating the health care worker shortage that was evident even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Doran has also served and continues to serve as a co-investigator on federal, state, and local grants aimed at reducing health inequities through health promotion interventions. She currently serves as director of health and wellness at UMB’s Community Engagement Center, which assists adults in the West Baltimore community by leveraging UMB resources to reduce health disparities. 

Doran earned her PhD and her master’s degree in community/public health nursing from UMSON, her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Drexel University, and her Associate Degree in Nursing from the Community College of Philadelphia. 

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The University of Maryland School of Nursing, founded in 1889, is one of the oldest and largest nursing schools in the nation and is ranked among the top nursing schools nationwide. Enrolling more than 2,000 students in its baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs, the School develops leaders who shape the profession of nursing and impact the health care environment.