David Richards Nielsen MD, FACS

David R. Nielsen, MD, FACS, is currently Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and past chair of the Academy’s Board of Governors. Following a bachelor’s degree in business finance, medical school, otolaryngology residency training, and an additional fellowship in otology, Dr. Nielsen practiced otology as a solo private practitioner for 13 years and at the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale as a Senior Consultant for five years.

Dr. Nielsen has served as the Academy/Foundation EVP and CEO for the last 12 years; has represented the Academy at the AMA House of Delegates; the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors and Advisory Council on Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery; the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), and currently serves as President and Chair of the Board of Directors of CMSS; and serves on the Executive Committee of the Physicians Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI), and Chairman of the Board of the PCPI Foundation.

Dr. Nielsen has emphasized quality improvement, evidence-based guidelines, and performance measurement during his tenure at AAO-HNS. He was the Principal Investigator of the AAOHNS’ initial annual quality conferences in 2006 and 2007, which are now integrated into the Annual Meeting of the Foundation. He has been invited to present the Academy’s quality initiatives to CMS, AHIP, the PCPI, AAMSE, NCQA, SUO, and others, and as an invited panelist on the physician perspective at the National P4P Summit in 2001. He has recently written chapters on evidence-based performance measurement and transition to practice for several textbooks and is currently contributing to a multi-disciplinary white paper on shared accountability.

Dr. Nielsen currently oversees the Academy’s education, research, health policy, advocacy, and member services activities for its 12,000 members.