Nancy H. Nielsen, MD ’76, PhD

Nancy H. Nielsen, MD ’76, PhD, is a national health-care policy expert and the second woman ever to serve as president of the American Medical Association (AMA).

Nielsen holds a doctorate in microbiology from Catholic University in Washington, D. C., and a medical degree from UB, where she is clinical professor of medicine and senior associate dean for medical education. She has served as a SUNY trustee and as a member of the board of directors of Kaleida Health.

Nielsen was elected president of the AMA on June 17, 2008, previously serving four terms as speaker of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD) and three terms as vice speaker. She is a delegate from New York and served two terms on the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs, helping to formulate policy positions for AMA-HOD debates on the diagnosis and treatment of depression, alcoholism among women, Alzheimer’s disease, priorities in clinical preventive services, colorectal cancer screening, asthma control, nicotine content of cigarettes and safety in dispensing prescriptions.

Among other AMA positions, Nielsen has served as a member of the National Patient Safety Foundation board of directors, the Commission for the Prevention of Youth Violence, and the Task Force on Quality and Patient Safety. She currently serves as a delegate to the AMA Medical School Section and is a liaison to the Council on Medical Education. She is the AMA representative on several quality initiatives, including the National Quality Forum, the AMA-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement ®, and the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance. She serves on the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Evidence Based Medicine, and on the Consumer Empowerment Committee of America’s Health Information Community.

In 2002, Nielsen was appointed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform. She was chief medical officer at Independent Health until 2007, after serving eight years as associate medical director for quality. She was speaker of the Medical Society of the State of New York House of Delegates and a member of the board directors of the Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company—one of the largest malpractice carriers in the country. She has also served as president of the Erie County Medical Society.