Kelley was born in Milton, Massachusetts.[2] She became interested in neuroscience during a field trip to Harvard.[2] She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania,[3][4] where she was captain for both the field hockey and lacrosse teams.[5][6] She then received a Thouron fellowship which allowed her to pursue a PhD at the University of Cambridge, England, under the supervision of Susan Iversen.[3] She was among the first 13 women to be admitted to Trinity College in 1976.[6] At Cambridge she continued to play lacrosse, and she was a member of the rowing team.[2] She continued her work at the Harvard Medical School with Walle Nauta.[7] Later, she held research and teaching positions at the University of Bordeaux in France, Harvard University and Northeastern University, before settling at the University of Wisconsin, where she was named Wisconsin Distinguished Neuroscience Professor in 2006.[4] At the University of Wisconsin, she was also Director of the Neuroscience Training Program.[7] In 2006, she was honored with Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society for Neuroscience.[5][8] She died from metastatic colon cancer on August 5, 2007 at her home in Madison, Wisconsin, at the age of 53.[9]