Nancy Nelson, MD

Family, education and dedication to medicine are what motivated Nancy Nelson, MD, with her brother’s help, to establish the Nancy Nelson, MD, Endowed Award at the CU School of Medicine. The award honors her father and grandfather, both physicians, who instilled in Nancy a love for medicine.

Nancy earned her bachelor’s degree from CU Boulder in 1955 and her medical degree from the CU School of Medicine four years later. Throughout her career as a pediatrician, Nancy served as a role model for women in medicine. A pioneering leader, she was the first woman chief resident in pediatrics, and the first woman president of the Denver Medical Society. Nancy also held roles in academic leadership and teaching, as a professor in both the CU College of Nursing and the CU School of Medicine.

Dean Emeritus Richard Krugman, MD, said, “The Nancy Nelson, MD, Endowed Award celebrates one of the most important figures in the institution’s history – one who nurtured generations of children as a pediatrician, and generations of medical students as an associate dean in our medical school.”

Bestowed annually at graduation, the Nelson Award is a meaningful source of financial support for medical students pursuing a medical career in pediatrics, family practice or internal medicine.