Russell M. Nelson

For other people of the same name, see Russell Nelson (disambiguation).

Russell M. Nelson
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
April 7, 1984 (1984-04-07) – incumbent
Called by	Spencer W. Kimball
Apostle
April 12, 1984 (1984-04-12) – incumbent
Called by	Spencer W. Kimball
Reason	Deaths of LeGrand Richards and Mark E. Petersen
Military career
1951-1953
Service/branch	United States Army
Rank	Captain
Unit	Army Medical Corps
Battles/wars	Korean War
Personal details
Born	Russell Marion Nelson September 9, 1924 (1924-09-09) Brigham City, Utah
Alma mater	University of Utah (B.A., M.D) University of Minnesota (Ph.D)
Occupation	Surgeon
Spouse	Dantzel White (1945-2005; deceased) Wendy L. Watson (2006-present)
Children	10

Russell Marion Nelson (born September 9, 1924) is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an internationally renowned cardiothoracic surgeon.

Medical career

A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, Nelson studied at LDS Business College while in his mid-teens and then worked as an assistant secretary at a bank. He then entered the University of Utah, earning a B.A. in 1945 and an M.D. in 1947. Shortly thereafter, he began working with the team of doctors which created the first heart-lung machine. In 1951, the machine was used in the first open-heart operation on a human being. Four years later, Nelson was the first doctor in Utah to perform successful open-heart surgery using a heart-lung machine.

Nelson served a two-year term of medical duty in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, being stationed in Korea, Japan, and at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He served his residency in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and then at the University of Minnesota, receiving a PhD in 1954.

Nelson returned to Salt Lake City in 1955 and was initially on the academic staff of the College of Medicine at the University of Utah, where in November of that year he performed the first cardiac operation in Utah utilizing cardiopulmonary bypass. That operation was performed at the Salt Lake General Hospital (SLGH) on an adult with an atrial septa defect.

In March 1956, Nelson performed the first successful pediatric cardiac operation at the SLGH, a total repair of tetralogy of Fallot in a four-year-old girl. In 1959, he joined the staff of the Salt Lake Clinic, became associated with the LDS Hospital, and continued to make major contributions to the development of the thoracic specialty both in the clinical sciences and as the second director of the residency program.

Nelson's surgical volume was sufficiently large that it was a critical component of the residents' experience. He was an innovative and facile surgeon responsible for many improvements in cardiac operations. He also established a research laboratory at LDS Hospital.

By the late 1960s, Nelson's experience with artificial aortic valve implantation was such that he was able to report a large series of patients with an exceptionally low operative mortality.

In a unique combination of spiritual and professional obligations, Nelson performed heart surgery on LDS Church president Spencer W. Kimball.

Professional leadership acknowledgments

Nelson became involved with the administrative aspects of medicine and was elected president of the Utah State Medical Association. He was chair of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at LDS Hospital from 1967 to 1974 and director of the University of Utah Affiliated Hospital residency program in thoracic surgery from 1967 to 1984.

He was honored nationally by being elected president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and a director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.

Positions and awards

• President of the Thoracic Surgical Directors Association
• President of the Society for Vascular Surgery
• President of the Utah State Medical Association
• Director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery
• Chairman of the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery for the American Heart Association
• Chairman of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at the LDS Hospital
• Vice-chairman of the board of governors at the LDS Hospital
• "Citation for International Service", American Heart Association
• "Heart of Gold Award", American Heart Association
• "Golden Plate Award", American Academy of Achievement
• "Distinguished Alumni Award", University of Utah

Spiritual commitments

In addition to his medical work, Nelson served frequently as a leader in the LDS Church. Before being appointed an apostle, he spent over six years (December 6, 1964 – July 11, 1971) as a stake president in Salt Lake City, during which time Joseph B. Wirthlin served as his second counselor. Nelson also served for eight years as the general president of the church's Sunday School, and four years as a regional representative of the Twelve.

Nelson was called to be an apostle by Church President Spencer W. Kimball, to whom he had served as a personal physician for many years. Nelson was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 7, 1984 in an LDS Church general conference. He was ordained apostle on April 12, 1984 by Gordon B. Hinckley. At the same conference, Dallin H. Oaks was also sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Nelson and Oaks filled the vacancies in the Quorum that were created by the deaths of LeGrand Richards and Mark E. Petersen.

As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Nelson is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

Assigned in August 2007, Nelson is currently a member of the Church Boards of Trusteees/Education, the governing body of the Church Educational System. He serves as the chairman of the executive committee of the Church Boards of Trusteees/Education.

Family

Nelson married Dantzel White on August 31, 1945 in the Salt Lake Temple. They have 9 daughters and a son. Dantzel died unexpectedly at the Nelson home in Salt Lake City on February 12, 2005. She was survived by her husband and nine of her children. She was preceded in death by one daughter.

On April 6, 2006 Nelson married Wendy L. Watson in the Salt Lake Temple. Watson—originally from Raymond, Alberta, Canada—is the daughter of the late Leonard David Watson and Laura McLean Watson. At the time of the marriage, Watson was a professor of marriage and family therapy in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University (BYU). Watson retired from her career on 1 May 2006. She received her R.N. in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, her B.A. from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, her M.Sc. from BYU, and her Ph.D. from the University of Calgary. She served as chair of BYU Women’s Conference for 1999 and 2000, and is the author of several books and addresses recorded on CD, including Rock Solid Relationships and Things Are Not Always as They Appear. Her marriage to Nelson is her first.

Works

Books

• Nelson, Russell M. (2010), Wise men and women still adore him, Deseret Book, ISBN 9781606418352, OCLC 672405152 
•    (2009), Hope in our hearts, Deseret Book, ISBN 9781606412015, OCLC 426253825 
•    (1998), Perfection pending: and other favorite discourses, Deseret Book, ISBN 9781573454056, OCLC 39256877 
•    (1998), The magnificence of man and Truth--and more, Deseret Book, ISBN 9780875799858, OCLC 40197958 
•    (1995), The gateway we call death, Deseret Book, ISBN 9780875799537, OCLC 31901270 
•    (1993), Lessons from mother Eve: a mother's day message, Deseret Book, ISBN 9780875797342, OCLC 32969712 
•    (1988), The power within us, Deseret Book, ISBN 9780875791548, OCLC 18164244 
•    (1987), Motherhood, Deseret Book, ISBN 9780875790879, OCLC 20469710 

See also

• Church Educational System
• Council on the Disposition of the Tithes
• Michael T. Ringwood

References

• Elder Russell M. Nelson, "Leader Biographies: Official Biographies for leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", Newsroom (LDS Church), http://newsroom.lds.org/leader-biographies/elder-russell-m-nelson 
• University of Utah School of Medicine Alumni Association
• Gardner, Marvin K. (June 1984). Elder Russell M. Nelson: Applying Divine Laws. Ensign, p. 9
• Church News, July 17, 1971, p. 7.
• Church News, July 3, 1971, p. 3.
• Heart to Heart, an Autobiography, p. 344.

External links

• Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: Russell M. Nelson
• Nelson on Special Witnesses of Christ

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints titles
Preceded by Neal A. Maxwell	Quorum of the Twelve Apostles April 12, 1984—	Succeeded by Dallin H. Oaks