Healy was born in New York, New York in 1939. She earned her BA from Queens College, City University, NYC, in 1962. In addition to being a founder member of AIR Gallery, she was a panel moderator and curator of several exhibits. She was editor of the "Heresies #5: The Great Goddess". From 1981- 2003, she was professor at the University of California Berkeley, 1989-1996 president and member of the San Francisco Arts Commission. In 1995, she served as a delegate to the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing. In 1997, she curated an exhibition of 5 Chinese women artists at UC Berkeley, Worth Ryder art gallery. Some of her works are in the permanent collections of Museum of Contemporary Crafts in NYC, Allen Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio and the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.