By Tucker Carden
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Associate Professor, Interim Assistant Dean, Graduate Clinical Education – MSN and Interim Co-Coordinator of the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Specialty Track Kelley Borella, DNP, CRNP, WHNP-BC, FAANP (BSN 2002, MSN 2005, DNP 2014), has been elected to serve as secretary of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health. Her election was announced at the Annual NPWH Women’s Healthcare Conference in September.
The NPWH seeks to set a standard of excellence in women’s and gender-related healthcare, playing a key role in shaping national policy, education and practice standards for women’s health nurse practitioners.
"NPWH has been an important part of my professional journey for many years,” Borella said. “Being elected secretary is both a tremendous honor and deeply meaningful to me. I’m grateful for the opportunity to give back to an organization and profession that have shaped so much of who I am as a clinician, educator and leader.”
A three-time alumna, Borella has been a faculty member at the School since 2012. She maintains a faculty practice at Cooper Green Mercy Health Services, providing comprehensive women's health care to underserved women in the Birmingham community. In 2023, Borella received the Inspiration in Practice Award from the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health. In 2025, she was inducted as a Fellow of American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and this year she received the AANP State Award for Outstanding Contributions for the state of Alabama. In September, she was inducted as an Academy of Nurse Educators Fellow through the National League for Nursing. Borella currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Southeast Region of NPWH.
Borella’s election highlights the scale of influence that the School’s faculty hold on a national level, as she is “incredibly proud to represent the UAB School of Nursing and bring the excellence of our faculty, students and programs to a national platform.”