Dr. Margaret Gallagher is a well-versed nurse in the State of Texas who specialized in nursing administration and neonatal nursing education prior to her retirement in 2012. Serving as principal of Margaret Gallagher and Associates Healthcare Consulting between 2008 and 2012, Dr. Gallagher excelled in a myriad of other positions for various hospitals and clinics beginning in the early 1970s. From 1972 to 1977, she was a clinical nurse specialist and clinical coordinator of newborn services at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., followed by a role as associate director of nursing at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia, from 1977 to 1982. For the following nine years, Dr. Gallagher thrived as an assistant professor at Norfolk State University until 1991, at which point she joined Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, as director of critical care nursing. She remained in this capacity until 1994.
In the latter stages of her career, Dr. Gallagher was director of Memorial Children’s Hospital in Savannah, Georgia, from 1994 to 1995, director of clinical education and performance development at Memorial Healthcare Systems in Savannah from 1995 to 1997, and administrative director of pediatrics at the Child and Adolescent Center of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston from 1997 to 1999. During her time at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, she established a family-centered program. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Gallagher flourished with Ernst & Young LLP as senior manager and health care industry leader for the IRS from 1999 to 2000. Notably, she served Ben Taub General Hospital between 2000 and 2008 in such roles as director of women and infant services and associate chief nursing officer.
Drawing upon a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of the Incarnate Word, a Master of Science in Nursing from the Catholic University of America and a Doctor of Philosophy in urban studies from Old Dominion University, Dr. Gallagher has spent her retirement years with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Homefront, where she supports families of military service members and veterans who have mental illnesses. Additionally, she volunteers with the March of Dimes and American Red Cross.
Experiencing many career achievements, Dr. Gallagher is especially proud of her efforts in mentoring nurse executives, as well as expanding the Resource Mothers Program to reduce infant mortality among pregnant teenagers. She is a former member of the American Nurses Association, American College of Healthcare Executives, National Association of Neonatal Nurses, National Perinatal Association and Sigma Theta Tau, among other organizations.