SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 16, 2025 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Eugenia O'Kelly, PhD, has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Dr. O'Kelly is a leading expert in engineering high-risk systems, with a career marked by innovation, research excellence, and international impact. She is an engineer and researcher specializing in risk management and system resilience within critical sectors such as healthcare, biosecurity, and defense. Since 2023, she has served as a research fellow at the University of Oxford, where her work focuses on improving how artificial intelligence and human judgment interact in high-stakes decision-making. Her recent research includes developing AI-supported risk assessment methods and designing interventions to maximize both human and technical system resilience. Her work encompasses significant contributions to national security and international AUKUS Pillar II projects, biosecurity efforts, and global health. In this capacity, Dr. O'Kelly's primary objective is to produce impactful research that not only advances human knowledge but also shapes policy and practice on an international scale.

Behind Dr. O'Kelly's professional achievements lies an extraordinary story of perseverance. Despite living with a health condition often considered fully debilitating, she has continued to contribute at the highest levels of science and engineering. Her personal experiences with repeated medical errors revealed how even advanced healthcare systems can fail—and how urgent the need is for improved risk management. Those encounters with vulnerability became a source of strength, grounding her research in empathy and purpose. Today, her work in risk management and system design reflects both scientific rigor and a deeply human understanding of what is at stake when systems fail.

Dr. O'Kelly completed her PhD in Engineering at the University of Cambridge, where her research examined why risk assessment technologies that succeed in fields such as nuclear and aerospace often fail to deliver comparable safety improvements in healthcare. She specifically analyzed anesthesia practices to identify the contribution of technical and human systemic factors to medical errors. Her doctoral work has contributed to ongoing efforts to strengthen safety culture and system design in hospitals.

Dr. O'Kelly's work took on heightened significance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She led an international team of researchers in addressing personal protective equipment shortages, particularly in developing countries. Her efforts contributed to life-saving technology and policy changes through the design of stopgap respirators, the development of new fit-testing methodologies, and enhancements to the existing scientific literature. Notably, both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have cited her work in their official guidelines. Dr. O'Kelly considers her contributions during this period among her most significant professional achievements to date.

From 2016 to 2018, Dr. O'Kelly served as chief executive officer of SG, a company designing surgical simulators and patient education materials for leading surgeons at hospitals across the United States, including Johns Hopkins, UCLA, and Stanford. One notable outcome was a series of animated simulators that reduced voluntary post-operative narcotic use by 50 percent through improved patient and family understanding of the recovery process.

In 2014, Dr. O'Kelly obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University, where she focused on software and product design. During this period, she participated in the Stanford Bing Overseas Studies Program and studied abroad at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.

In each of her signature roles, Dr. O'Kelly has consistently prioritized merging theoretical research with practical application, persisting in addressing real-world problems and advancing measurable outcomes. She is an active member of the National Defense Industrial Association, the International Council on Systems Engineering, and the Project Management Institute. Dr. O'Kelly has received numerous accolades in recognition of her broad range of achievements and has contributed extensively to the academic literature. Her research and commentary have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, and The Guardian, and she has published in peer-reviewed journals including BMJ Open and PLOS ONE.

Throughout her life, Dr. O'Kelly has credited her success to the unwavering support of her mother and several influential mentors. She regularly mentors students and young entrepreneurs and enjoys reading, tinkering, and spending time with her family. She has a wide range of interests and studies subjects including philosophy, business, and law in her free time.

Looking toward the future, she remains focused on maximizing innovation within critical high-risk fields—particularly through artificial intelligence—while addressing core vulnerabilities that could cause unintended harm within these systems. Dr. O'Kelly continues to collaborate with companies, universities, hospitals, and international organizations to develop and implement risk-reduction strategies across healthcare, defense, biosecurity, and other high-stakes environments.

About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. The suite of Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who's Who® website, www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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