Joan Kelly, Medical Director

Throughout her career, Joan has been a trusted leader in medicine innovation and clinical
safety. Her passion is helping people live better, longer, and enjoy life more fully.

In 2021, Joan chose to bring her passion for innovation and her career expertise to the medical
aesthetics industry. She completed her certification, and opened her practice, Alainn Medical
Aesthetics.

Joan received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Villanova, PA.
She began her nursing career at New England Deaconess Hospital, working on the medical
and surgery floor of Hematology and Oncology, where she gained extensive experience with
blood disorders, cancers and chemotherapy.

She went on to work at the BU School of Medicine’s Clinical Research Center, providing clinical
care and collecting research data, funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Joan then joined the Community Research Initiative (CRI), where she began working on drug
trials for protease inhibitors, the breakthrough class of drugs that changed everything in HIV
and AIDS. These innovative drugs transformed the HIV virus from deadly to a survivable and
chronic disease, and the ending of AIDs. It was an incredible time in medicine, saving lives
around the world.

Because of her strong cancer background with end-stage cancers, she became a lead
researcher on symptom management, protocols and minimizing side effects of drug therapy.
During her tenure there, Joan returned to school for her Master’s degree and her Nurse
Practitioner’s license. Her thesis focus was on improving drug adherence with patients, based
on her work at CRI. She graduated in 1996, and obtained her NP license in 1997.

She continued her career as a NP at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, specializing in oncology,
hematology and rare diseases. She was deeply involved in innovating patient drug protocols,
and had the personal privilege of extending lives and the quality of lives for patients.

As the COVID pandemic emerged, Joan worked with Harvard University, managing their
COVID response program. She brought her clinical expertise and leadership ability to the FEMA
response, helping orchestrate efforts with the Navy, government, state of Massachusetts, and
serving as a clinical lead with large vaccination teams at both Fenway Park and The Hynes
Convention Center.

Joan is a Burlington MA native, and lives in Bedford, with her husband, their two teenage
children and two fun-loving English cream golden retrievers.

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