Jennifer Keller

Dr. Jennifer Keller

Summary

Dr. Jennifer Keller is the current chief of medicine of the Atlantis Base in the Pegasus Galaxy. She was given the assignment after the untimely death of Dr. Carson Beckett. (Stargate Atlantis: 3.20 "First Strike Part 1")

Personal Data

Birthday:
Birthplace: Grew up in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA
Marital Status: Single, but in a romantic relationship with Dr. Rodney McKay
Children: None
Parents: Father, still living; mother, deceased a few years before Keller joined the Atlantis Expedition
Siblings: None
Stargate Program Rank: Civilian
Stargate Program Position: Chief Medical Officer of Atlantis Base

Before Joining the Stargate Program

Looking back on her childhood, Keller classified herself as a wimp with a low threshold for pain. To illustrate the point, she recalled when she went away to summer camp, but wasn't able to "survive" for more than three days, even though there were other kids to play with and many comforts, such as beds in cabins and food that was prepared for them. She got homesick and called her parents to take her home. (SGA 4.07 "Missing")

Keller was a child prodigy and quickly worked her way through school, skipping three grades and graduating from high school at the age of fifteen. She obtained her bachelor's degree before reaching voting age (18 in the United States). According to her, she missed out on a lot of parties and dances and felt like she didn't belong. (SGA 4.13 "Quarantine")

She did make a life for herself later, however, by learning all kinds of bar betting games in order to win free beers. Her skill at using three knives and three stationary cups to build a bridge that can support another cup's weight came in handy years later during an off-world mission to M5V-801. (SGA 4.16 "Trio")

Her medical expertise includes general and neurosurgery, genetic research, and cosmetic surgery. Even after obtaining these incredible skills, Keller still lacked confidence in her abilities. (SGA 3.20 "First Strike Part 1", SGA 4.01 "Adrift Part 2", SGA 4.19 "The Kindred Part 2", SGA 5.08 "The Queen")

Atlantis Expedition

The circumstances behind Keller's recruitment aren't known, but most likely it required that Dr. Beckett approve all applicants (SGA 2.02 "The Intruder").

Keller relunctantly took on the role as the acting chief of medicine of the Atlantis Base after Dr. Beckett's untimely death (SGA 3.17 "Sunday"). She felt that she wasn't qualified to replace Beckett and asked Dr. Elizabeth Weir, the leader of the Atlantis Expedition, to replace her as soon as possible so that she could continue being a doctor and not the head of the department. Weir expressed her confidence in Keller's abilities and said that she felt safe in her hands. This comment turned prophetic when Weir was critically injured during an Asuran attack on the city, and Keller was the doctor on call to treat her. (SGA 3.20 "First Strike Part 1")

First Year as CMO

Keller convinces McKay to reactivate Weir's Asuran nanites to save her life

Keller suggested that the Asuran nanites implanted into Weir about a year prior (SGA 3.05 "Progeny") be reactivated to heal her massive head injuries. Dr. Rodney McKay reprogrammed these dormant nanites and saved Weir's life, but the trade-off was that she could only live with the nanites active. They used these nanites to link to the Asuran network so that they could steal a ZPM from the Asurans' homeworld, but the Asurans detected her presence and captured her. The team, however, made it back to Atlantis with a ZPM that saved the city. (SGA 4.01 "Adrift Part 2", 4.02 "Lifeline Part 3")

Keller's insecurities were depicted in a nightmare that was induced by an alien entity in which she dreamed of losing her patients to aliens that she didn't know how to handle. This fear was realized when her associate Dr. Kate Heightmeyer died in her sleep in a nightmare induced by the same hostile alien entity. Keller, however, played a key role in determining how to get the entity back into its storage crystal and replaced on its homeworld. (SGA 4.04 "Doppelganger")

After Atlantis had to relocate to a different planet in order to escape the Asurans, they began to show signs of an illness that would lead them to amnesia, and if not treated, to death. It became evident that this disease was a mutation of a common childhood illness called Kirsan Fever that usually affected children. Teyla and Ronon were immune to this new outbreak, so they led the search for the cure: the sap of the enchuri plant. Keller treated everyone as long as she could, but eventually, even she succumbed. After she lost memories of her own identity and her role in the city, Keller showed that down in her core, she had inward strength and leadership abilities. She tried to direct the other amnesiacs as they rushed the doors to where they were being kept, but she was knocked out with a Wraith stun gun used by one of the soldiers who had confined everyone else to the mess hall. Fortunately, with Ronon's and Teyla's guidance, the remainder of the base personnel were cured and their memories returned. (SGA 4.06 "Tabula Rasa")

Keller and Teyla on the run from the Bola Kai on New Athos

Not very acclimated to outdoor living, Keller was unexpectedly thrown into a survival situation along with Teyla when the two went to New Athos for a friendly overnight visit. Upon their arrival, they discovered that the Athosians were gone and that the settlement was being scavenged by the Bola Kai, a cannibalistic primitive tribe. In her effort to escape from the tribesmen, Keller sprained her ankle, but continued to attempt to be brave under extreme stress. She described herself to Teyla during their ordeal: "Look, I'm the first to admit, I'm not very good at certain things. I'm not athletic, I can't cook, you don't even want to hear me try to play the piano. But I do think I'm a pretty good judge of character..." (SGA 4.07 "Missing")

While on New Athos, Teyla protected her, and she eventually found the courage she needed when they were finally captured by the Bola Kai. Keller was tied up and beaten, but she didn't reveal any information about Atlantis. While locked up in a cage together, Keller opened up more to Teyla about her family and life back on Earth. She revealed that her mother was deceased and that she was all that her father had left. After their rescue, Keller, realizing that she could have been killed, was granted a visit with her father back on Earth, presumably in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA, where she grew up. (SGA 4.07 "Missing")

Keller became Teyla's confidante after their time together in New Athos. Because she was Teyla's medical doctor, she was the first to discover that Teyla was pregnant. Teyla chose not to tell her teammates immediately after she found out, but Keller reminded her that she could not keep it a secret for very much longer. (SGA 4.08 "The Seer")

Keller's likeness was duplicated by a group of Asurans who were seeking the Path to Enlightenment, or ascension, like their Ancient creators. This likeness was drawn from the memories of Dr. Weir, who had been integrated by the Asurans into their society. The Asuran who took on Keller's likeness was destroyed when her group was discovered in their Atlantis look-a-like by Oberoth, the leader of the Asurans who did not embrace ascension as the next evolutionary step of his kind. It was the destruction of this Atlantis that was foreseen by Davos. Before the city's destruction, the Asuran Keller gave to Weir's Asuran-created clone the technology that later helped the Atlantis Expedition track every Aurora-class starship that the Asurans had in their fleet. (SGA 4.10 "The Mortal Coil Part 1")

Keller and Ronon almost kiss while trapped together during a lockdown

During a poorly-executed quarantine lockdown of the Atlantis Base, Keller was stranded in the infirmary with Ronon. Their radios didn't work either, so Keller was frustrated because she didn't know any of the circumstances of the lockdown. Ronon and she tried to break down one of the doors with an oxygen tank used as a missile, but the doors proved much tougher than anticipated. While they waited for their own rescue, the two had the opportunity to get to know each other. There was some sexual attraction, perhaps stemming from Keller's similarities to Ronon's late wife who was also in the medical field. But before they could share their first kiss, the lockdown was terminated and the city brought back to normal. As it turned out, the lockdown was merely the result of a bug in the reprogramming of the quarantine protocol. (SGA 4.13 "Quarantine")

When Keller was on a medical away mission to treat the respiratory problems suffered by the people of M5V-801, she, Col. Carter, and Dr. McKay fell into an underground mining complex left behind by the Genii. The three tried all kinds of ways to climb out of the hole, including building a bridge like Keller had learned to do in a bar bet, but none of their methods worked. To make it even more complicated, Carter broke her leg when she fell from the bridge and stacked crates when a tremor on the unstable planet hit. Then, the three discovered that the chamber that they were in was about to collapse down a deep chasm as it began to tilt. Keller fell off the platform, but managed to grab a rope before plunging to her death. While dangling from the rope with McKay on the other end, Keller discovered a shaft that led out. With everything he had, McKay held tightly to the rope while Keller swung to safety. He helped Carter and then finally himself. Keller encouraged him as he started to panic, and all three made it back to Atlantis safely. Afterward, Keller treated McKay's rope-burned hands and asked him out for a drink. This appeared to be the beginning of a mutual attraction between these two. (SGA 4.16 "Trio")

Keller's genetic knowledge came to the fore when a clone of Dr. Beckett was discovered in one of Michael Kenmore's research facilities. Michael was a Wraith on whom the Expedition performed experiments involving Beckett's retrovirus that was meant to bring a Wraith's human DNA forward and suppress their Wraith traits—in effect, turning Wraith into human beings. The Wraith had extensive cloning knowledge, so it appeared fairly easy for Michael to create a clone of Beckett that was nearly identical to the original. The only differences that this clone had from the late doctor were his experiences since Beckett's capture nearly two years previously when the clone was made and the dependence on a weekly treatment that Michael devised to keep the clone alive. Keller and the clone worked on a cure, but his condition was deteriorating too quickly. Keller urged him to enter stasis until she and her team devised a treatment to save him. (SGA 4.19 "The Kindred Part 2")

Second Year as CMO

In an alternate timeline, Keller and McKay were lovers

Beckett's clone was an unexpected discovery found by Teyla's team when they were actually searching for her. She had been captured by Michael because he was interested in her unborn child's genetic make-up. Teyla's son had two parents who had trace Wraith DNA that left them with the mental skills to connect to the Wraith's psychic network. Since Michael had been affected by the retrovirus and left as neither completely human nor completely Wraith, he searched for the right retrovirus to create a new race that would serve him as their leader. His goal was to wipe out all the humans and the Wraith—both of whom had rejected him—by releasing a modified version of the Hoffan Drug into the humans' water supply and causing them to become poison to the Wraith that fed upon them. Keller treated as many of these humans as she possibly could, but her continued exposure to the drug led to her death. She and McKay had just returned to Earth to get away from the war and build a new life together, and her death caused McKay to try to undo the past. His efforts succeeded 48,700 years into the future, and Sheppard was given the knowledge to save Teyla before Michael could experiment on her child. (SGA 4.20 "The Last Man Part 1", SGA 5.01 "Search and Rescue Part 2")

Sheppard led his and another team to where Teyla would be found on M2S-445, but they arrived too early. They accidentally activated a booby-trap and the whole complex crashed down on them. Keller joined the S&R teams on the planet to treat the wounded. She rode in a puddle jumper and got to see a Wraith cruiser up close. She needed to operate on Sheppard, who had been pinned under a beam and impaled by a piece of rebar, but he convinced her to allow him to go on the mission with only a temporary patching up. After Teyla's rescue, Sheppard allowed Keller to operate on him. She tried to joke with him about playing with his insides, but the joke didn't go over well at all. (SGA 5.01 "Search and Rescue Part 2")

With Teyla's rescue, the timeline in which Sheppard had traveled was changed, thus saving Keller's life, among millions of others'. Sheppard knew that Keller and McKay had a relationship in this alternate timeline, but he kept that information to himself so that things would progress in their own time, if at all. That didn't stop him from making cryptic remarks that left others wondering what he meant, though. (SGA 4.20 "The Last Man Part 1", SGA 5.01 "The Seed")

Keller affected by the Wraith Hive Pathogen

Everyone who was on M2S-445 was affected by a pathogen that was released from one of Michael's labs when the collapse occurred. Keller was the first to show symptoms one month after everyone's return. Slowly, but surely, her body was taken over by the beginnings of a Wraith hive. This pathogen was what "grew" these hive ships, using a human as its central core. Tendrils reached out from her and began to compromise Atlantis' systems. Sheppard successfully used a phage against her that was created by Dr. Beckett, who was now released from stasis with a serum developed by Keller. During the time that Sheppard was near Keller, one of her tendrils zeroed in on his previous wound and impaled him again. It actually took Sheppard longer to heal after this ordeal than it did for Keller, who was released from quarantine before Sheppard was allowed to leave his infirmary bed. (SGA 5.02 "The Seed")

During one of his team's missions, McKay was infested with a parasite that began to affect his brain functions. Distracted by McKay's more personable behavior and eventual confession of love, Keller didn't see the signs of the parasite's invasion until it was too late to operate. But having lived through a similar experience with his grandfather, Ronon Dex proposed taking McKay to a shrine that was located on a planet formerly of the Ancestors (Ancients) that was said to be where the affected person could have one final day of lucidity before dying. Keller objected to this risky treatment, but McKay's sister Jeanie overruled her medical advice. The Shrine of Talus was now located on a Wraith-dominated planet, so everyone knew that they were racing against time to save their friend. Remarkably, the shrine omitted a type of radiation that was repelling to the parasite, which made its affect on its host ineffectual. Keller removed the parasite on-site with a power drill, and McKay soon recovered. Keller apparently didn't bring up what McKay had confessed to her about his romantic feelings. (SGA 5.06 "The Shrine")

With her extensive exposure to the genetic research of Beckett and Michael, Keller began developing a new gene therapy that would preserve a Wraith's overall Wraith-ness with the exception of his need to feed on humans for sustenance. Sometimes-Wraith-ally "Todd" (as Sheppard nicknamed him) was open to testing this new retrovirus because Michael's release of the modified Hoffan Drug was killing his hive by poisoning random food sources. In order to propose this retrovirus, however, Todd felt that the command to proceed should come from his queen. The only problem with this was that Todd's hive didn't have a queen. So, Teyla, who had the ability to connect to the Wraith's psychic network, volunteered to disguise herself as his queen and establish order within the hive. Keller performed the surgery and procedures necessary to give Teyla the appearance of a Wraith. After Teyla successfully established herself as the hive's queen, Keller converted her back. (SGA 5.08 "The Queen")

Keller prepares to disable Kiryk's transmitter

The Expedition's advances in medical technology allowed them to help many human settlements throughout the galaxy. Ronon and McKay volunteered to acoompany Keller to M33-985 during her rounds. Both men had a romantic interest in her, so each was finding one reason or another to come with her. Keller was separated from them long enough for a Runner named Kiryk to capture her. Using his vast experience at tracking, Ronon led McKay on the search for Keller, all the while having to fight Wraith who had come to the planet to hunt Kiryk, just as they had hunted Ronon when he was tagged as a Runner. Kiryk captured Keller so that she could treat a young girl who had a severe infection from a leg wound. He saved this little girl from the Wraith that he had inadvertently brought to her village. Once Ronon and McKay found Keller, they accepted Kiryk as a fellow Wraith-fighter. Even though Keller successfully disabled Kiryk's transmitter and basically gave him a new life free from running, he chose to lead the Wraith in a chase through the Stargate so that Keller, McKay, Ronon, and the little girl could be saved. (SGA 5.09 "Tracker")

During her time on M33-985, Keller demonstrated an improvement in her self-defense and survival skills. She not only killed a Wraith by stealthily approaching him from behind and running him through with a blade, but she also fought off a Wraith attacker with a stick. Keller admitted that she had been taking lessons from Ronon. McKay's confidence was rattled, but after their return to Atlantis, he had enough respect for Ronon to inform him that he was also interested in winning Keller's affections as Ronon obviously was. The two, being friends and teammates, agreed that they'd accept whatever Keller decided. (SGA 5.09 "Tracker")

Finally, Todd had convinced his hive to test Keller's gene therapy. They agreed to convene on the Daedalus to review her research and possibly to begin the treatments. While on the ship, Todd received a call about an attack on one of his hive's facilities by a rival hive. He sent two of his ships to defend the site and witnessed both ships disintegrate as soon as they activated their hyperspace drives. Having been in the Ancient-Wraith War himself, Todd immediately recognized the effects of the Attero Device, technology developed by the Ancients 10,000 years ago to disrupt the hyperspace windows created by Wraith ships. The Device also had the unfortunate side effect of causing Stargates to overload and explode, so after three days of testing, it was never used again. Todd thought that the Expedition had led him into a trap and then activated the Device against him, but Woolsey tried to convince him that they had nothing to do with it. Todd took the Daedalus by force and the "alliance" that his hive shared with the Expedition was pretty much dissolved. Even so, Todd was also a forward-thinker and he took a copy of the research with him when his party left the ship. (SGA 5.10 "First Contact Part 1", SGA 5.11 "The Lost Tribe Part 2")

Ronon was with Keller on the Daedalus during the crisis with the Wraith. She witnessed his shoot-first and often destructive approach to handling a situation, an approach that was the direct opposite of her thorough and deliberate thinking. When they all returned home to Atlantis, Keller told Ronon that she was interested in someone else. There was no need for her to be concerned about his hurt feelings, for soon thereafter, Technician Amelia Banks caught his attention. He saw her kick box her way through an invasion of Michael's forces and immediately admired her confidence in a fight that was much more in tune with his own. (SGA 5.11 "The Lost Tribe Part 2", SGA 5.14 "The Prodigal", SGA 5.20 "Enemy at the Gate")

Keller and McKay share their first kiss

When it came to having to ask someone out on a date to a presentation on Earth, McKay immediately thought of Keller. She was able to hold her own in a room full of physicists who were invited to a project reveal by one of McKay's competitors, Dr. Malcolm Tunney. Keller was thrilled to take a ride on a private airplane and mingle with top-notch scientists like Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. But when Tunney's project to draw heat away from Earth through the Tunney Space-Time Matter Bridge into a parallel universe went awry, it was McKay's knowledge of his and his sister Jeanie Miller's work in creating a bridge to an alternate reality that saved them. Apparently, Tunney had gained access to McKay's and Miller's work through government contractor connections. As temperatures began to plummet, Keller got locked in a room and began freezing to death. McKay successfully shut the system down and saved her. At that point, she admitted to him that she loved him and that she had felt that way for a "some time now." Her words were almost identical to his in the video that she recorded when he was infected with the parasite. They shared their first kiss at that moment, and then the two consummated their relationship on the private plane ride home. (SGA 5.16 "Brain Storm")

After Todd abandoned the Daedalus, he tried out Keller's gene therapy on members of his hive, including himself. It began to do exactly what it was designed to do—eliminated their feeding hands and activated their digestive systems—but it also created a virulent, cancer-like disease at the same time that it was weakening their immune system. The converted and infected Wraith began to die, so Todd put himself and the rest of the crew in stasis, but the hive itself became infected through its biological links with them. Unfortunately, Keller wasn't able to find a cure and all of Todd's crew died. Todd himself was permitted by Sheppard to take the Stargate to a planet where the Wraith would allow an Iratus Bug to feed on him in order to heal him. The treatment was exceedingly painful, but successful. (SGA 5.17 "Infection", SGA 5.20 "Enemy at the Gate")

Keller is almost beheaded while in Neeva Casol's body

In what probably had to be one of the most frightening experiences of her life, Keller unwittingly swapped bodies with a thief named Neeva Casol through the activation of Ancient Long-Range Communications Devices. Keller was captured and scheduled for execution as a sentence for all of Casol's crimes. She tried to convince the Magistrate that she was Dr. Jennifer Keller of Atlantis, but because she was in the body of Casol, the Magistrate ignored her pleas, taking them as a desperate attempt by Casol to escape sentencing. Keller was just about to be beheaded with the executioner's axe when Casol's partners in crime rescued her. She wasn't able to convince them that she wasn't Casol, and so mistrust grew among them. After one of them was killed in a firefight with a village patrol, the remaining partner turned his weapon on Keller and was about to pull the trigger when the link between her and Casol was severed. Keller returned to her own body in the nick of time, but had to suffer from a gunshot wound that her body experienced when Casol occupied it. (SGA 5.18 "Identity")

Keller recovered from her injuries and was back on duty when Richard Woolsey advised her to be prepared to receive casualties when they engaged Atlantis' wormhole drive for the first time. In this scenario, preparing for casualties was actually optimistic, because if the calculations were off, the city-ship would more than likely be vaporized (or permanently demolecularized). They were taking this risk because Atlantis was the only ship that could engage a Wraith "superhive" that had managed to reach Earth. Like traveling in the wormhole of a Stargate, Atlantis would reach Earth nearly instantaneously using the wormhole drive, but the energy required was enormous. They reached Earth and managed to destroy the hive, but the ZPMs were drained in the battle and Atlantis was forced to land on Earth in the Pacific Ocean. The cloak still worked, and Keller and McKay shared a great view of San Francisco Bay from one of Atlantis' balconies. (SGA 5.20 "Enemy at the Gate")

Keller in Alternate Realities

Keller conducts autopsy on Wraith feeding victim

Keller was still a doctor of medicine in an alternate reality where the Wraith had managed to reach Earth. Out of the entire fleet, only one of the Wraith managed to escape the battle. As it turned out, this Earth also had the Ancient Weapons Platform, which had been moved from Antarctica to Area 51. This lone Wraith disguised himself with make-up that made him blend in well in Las Vegas, Nevada. Using his telepathic abilities, the Wraith was able to win great sums of money in the casinos so that he could buy the things he needed to build a transmitter that could send his distress call all the way to Pegasus. (SGA 5.29 "Vegas")

But Wraith need to feed on humans to live, so eventually, his handiwork of dried-up corpses was discovered by the authorities and Detective John Sheppard was assigned to the case. The Atlantis Expedition existed without him, but many of the same people served on the Base, including Dr. Rodney McKay, Dr. Radek Zelenka, IOA Representative Richard Woolsey, and Dr. Jennifer Keller. In this reality, McKay wore a wedding ring and he greeted Keller with familiarity, so it is possible that they were married or at least romantically involved. Keller was brought in as a Medical Examiner to study the latest corpse found by the police. She talked with Sheppard about the case, trying to determine how much he knew and what he thought. Later, McKay briefed Sheppard on the Stargate Program, the Atlantis Expedition, and the aliens known as the Wraith. He even introduced Sheppard to a captured Wraith. (SGA 5.19 "Vegas")

Detective Sheppard managed to kill the Wraith and save Earth from his transmission, but the transmitter's design and energy consumption caused it to broadcast its message into other realities. This transmission contained the coordinates to Earth and the location of the Weapons Platform at Area 51. (SGA 5.19 "Vegas")

Hobbies and Other Interests

Social Drinking: Keller learned some bar betting games in order to earn free beers. This knowledge actually proved to be useful. She also enjoyed evening drinks and her "first date" with McKay was when she asked him out for a drink after their return from M5V-801. (SGA 4.16 "Trio")
Sparring Techniques: After her ordeal of survival on New Athos, Keller apparently realized the need to know how to defend herself, so she enlisted the help of Ronon to teach her how to spar. This training increased her confidence. She successfully fended off a Wraith with a stick until McKay could shoot him. (SGA 4.07 "Missing", SGA 5.09 "Tracker")
Romance: Keller was attracted to Ronon Dex and almost shared a kiss with him, but found that her preference was for the more cerebral Dr. Rodney McKay. At the end of her first two years as CMO, Keller and McKay appeared to be happy in their relationship, which was in the open for their friends and co-workers to see. (5.20 "Enemy at the Gate")

Injuries, Illnesses/Sicknesses, Deaths

Dreams Manipulated by Crystalline Entity: A malevolent entity that resided in a crystalline cluster entered Keller's subconscious and manipulated her dreams, giving her nightmares about her inability to handle crises medical situations created by alien lifeforms. She woke up from her nightmare in horror not only because she wasn't able to save Teyla, but because Sheppard seemed to enjoy the entire incident. (SGA 4.04 "Doppleganger")
Victim of a Mutation of Kirsan Fever: On M35-117, Atlantis' new home planet, a mutation of a childhood illness caused all of the non-Pegasus natives on the base to lose their memories. Keller classified the disease and treated its symptoms, but eventually even she fell victim. With her memories gone, she wasn't able to treat herself or anyone else, but she was able to help others escape from their confinement in the mess hall. She was knocked out by a Wraith stun gun that was being used by soldiers who could only remember that they were supposed to confine everyone to the mess hall. (SGA 4.06 "Tabula Rasa")
Ordeal on New Athos: It was supposed to be a regular medical visit to examine the children of New Athos, but what it turned out to be was an ordeal for survival as Keller and Teyla ran from tribal members of the Bola Kai, a cannibalistic people with primitive weapons. Keller twisted her ankle; nearly fell to her death dangling from a rope bridge; and was captured, dragged, and manhandled by Bola Kai tribesman. (SGA 4.07 "Missing")
Ordeal on M5V-801: While visiting the planet to treat people with a respiratory ailment and negotiate relocation, Keller, Carter, and McKay fell into an underground chamber of a large mining network built and abandoned by the Genii. The initial fall into the chamber was 25 feet, and during their various attempts to get out of the hole, each of them suffered additional bumps and bruises—Carter broke a leg—until Keller nearly fell to her death when the chamber tilted and opened up to a chasm below. Fortunately, Keller managed to grab a rope and swing herself to safety through a shaft below the chamber. All three made it home and Keller resumed her duties as doctor, her first patients being Carter and McKay. (SGA 4.16 "Trio")
Infected with Wraith Hive Pathogen: While on M2S-445 during a search and rescue operation to retrieve Atlantis personnel who had been pinned in the rubble of one of Michael Kenmore's research facilities, Keller was exposed to a pathogen that had escaped containment during the collapse. This pathogen used Keller's body as the core to growing a Wraith hive ship. Her mind was taken over by its programming and her body began to sprout tentacles and tissue that comprise a Wraith hive ship. The clone of the late Dr. Carson Beckett devised a phage that returned her to her original human self without any signs of negative side effects. (SGA 5.01 "Search and Rescue Part 2", SGA 5.02 "The Seed")
Ordeal on M33-985: While making a medical visit to the people of this planet, Keller was captured by a Runner named Kiryk. He kidnapped her rather than just ask for her help in treating the wound on a little girl he had rescued from a planet that had been culled by the Wraith who had followed him there because he was afraid that she'd refuse. Kiryk manhandled Keller, tied her up, used a personal transporter on her, and knocked her out with a Wraith stun gun before they arrived to the cave where the young girl was hidden. After resolving their trust issues, Keller and Kiryk worked together in protecting the girl, and they continued to work together when Ronon and McKay found her. Keller fought off a Wraith with a stick until McKay shot him. Kiryk drew the remaining Wraith through the Stargate so that the girl and Keller would be safe. (SGA 5.09 "Tracker")
Hypothermia: Keller and McKay returned to Earth to attend a demonstration of a system developed by Dr. Malcolm Tunney to draw heat from Earth into an alternate reality in order to alleviate the effects of Global Warming. His system malfunctioned and continued to draw heat, making the temperatures plummet rapidly inside his facility. Keller was trapped in a room and exposed to ice-cold water, leaving her with only a few minutes to live. McKay got to her after she stopped breathing. He administered CPR and saved her. It was at that moment that Keller declared her love for him and they began their new relationship. (SGA 5.16 "Brain Storm")
Body Swapping with Neeva Casol: Neeva Casol was a thief who was wanted for robbery and murder. During one of her heists, she activated an Ancient Long-Range Communications Device that sent her consciousness to Keller's body and Keller's consciousness to hers. This body-swapping left Casol to walk the halls of Atlantis with Keller's identity, but her behavior was so non-Keller-like that she was quickly discovered and restrained. Keller, in Casol's body, was nearly beheaded for Casol's crimes, but rescued by two of the thief's partners. Eventually, Sheppard's team and Casol, in Keller's body, found the planet where she was, but a gunfight with a village patrol left one of Casol's partners dead and Keller's body wounded. Just as Keller was about to be killed by the surviving partner, Ronon deactivated the Device with his blast gun and both women returned to their own bodies. Keller found herself suffering from the gunshot wound and Casol found herself looking down the barrel of her partner's pistol. (SGA 5.18 "Identity")

Key Episodes

Gallery

MGM Official Website: Search Results for "Jennifer+Keller"

Related Characters

Actor

Jewel Staite

--DeeKayP 19:28, 30 May 2007 (PDT)