Kelly Cox Watkins, MSN

About Me

Kelly Cox Watkins and her Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Global Network team provide strategic assessment, care-model and facility design, and clinical operations and training services to the organization’s partner hospitals. Under her leadership, the Global Network has extended Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s mission by transferring knowledge and sharing best practices with hospitals in Michigan, Minnesota and California — and as far afield as South Korea, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition to her work expanding the organization’s national and worldwide footprint, Kelly also engages in efforts that increase patient access by growing Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s payor network. 

A critical care and rehabilitation nurse by training, Kelly began her career with Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (then, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) in 1998. Since that time, she has served in a variety of leadership roles, including vice president of corporate partnerships and vice president of inpatient operations. Most recently, as vice president of market development, she was responsible for patient volume and strategic growth initiatives for Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s system of care — regionally, nationally and internationally. 

Kelly earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Maryville University in St. Louis, and her master’s degree in nursing administration from the University of Colorado Denver.