For over 20 years, Galen has worked with non-profits, advocacy organizations, public agencies, and foundations to develop collaborative planning and evaluation approaches. Her primary interest lies in increasing individual and organizational capacity to improve community health and quality of life. Galen has presented nationally on community building, multi-cultural collaboration, and policy advocacy, and has authored numerous publications which tie health education and planning theory to grounded practice.

As an evaluator, she has developed participatory data analysis processes that engage community stakeholders in all levels of planning and evaluation, including understanding, analyzing, and interpreting data for outcome-based planning. She has conducting numerous large-scale needs assessments in the health and philanthropic sectors.

Galen has directed both a county-wide tobacco control and a childhood lead poisoning prevention program, and developed and launched the Healthy Neighborhoods Project (a national model). She has worked in the fields of occupational health, women's health, and alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention as a planner, trainer and evaluator. She is also a regular guest lecturer at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health on cross-cultural organizing for health. Galen has a Master's degree in Public Health from UC Berkeley.