Heather Nelson was formerly in the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Information Technology division at UChicago Medicine. In the role of SVP/CIO, she is responsible for supporting all the information management systems (clinical & business/administrative), infrastructure, clinical engineering, IT support services, IT Project Management Office, integration, reporting, and analytics capabilities & technologies, as well as the privacy & IT security functions for UChicago Medicine. Her teams are comprised of talented IT professionals that are dedicated to supporting patient care and care teams throughout the health system and in our communities through a shared services operating model.

Nelson joined UChicago Medicine in 2014 as the Executive Director of Applications Systems with oversight of all the clinical and revenue cycle management applications, clinical engineering team, population health strategies and systems, and support of the UCM Care Network strategies and systems. She was named Interim VP/CIO in August of 2017, named the VP/CIO in April of 2018, and promoted to SVP/CIO in 2019.

Prior to joining UChicago Medicine, Nelson spent time at Baystate Health in Springfield, MA as a Senior Director of Applications and IT Operations, including an Interim CIO assignment and 10 years at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI with roles in Laboratory Services, Case Management, and increasing leadership responsibilities within the Information Technology division. Nelson holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Alma College in Alma, MI as well as a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Central Michigan University. She is a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) through the CHiME organization.