New faculty spotlight: Shelly Nielsen

Shelly Nielsen is a new faculty member at UNMC.

• Name: Shelly Nielsen
• Hometown: Columbus, Neb.
• Title and department at UNMC: Assistant professor in the Munroe-Meyer Institute Department of Genetic Medicine; genetic counselor

Research/professional interests:

• Pediatric and adult general genetics

How I fell in love with genetics: The high school I attended, Columbus Senior High, had an exceptionally strong science department, and my 10th grade biology teacher greatly influenced my desire to major in biology and sparked my love of genetics.

Degrees:

• M.S., genetic counseling, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora
• Master of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts in Biology (a combined five-year program), University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Memberships:

• National Society of Genetic Counselors

Three things people may not know about me:

• I wanted to be a race car driver when I was growing up.
• My father was a new car dealer, so the car I drove to school was not always the car that I drove home from school — I often was called to the school office to exchange car keys so someone could test drive the car I took to school.
• I was a high school biology teacher prior to returning to school to become a genetic counselor.

Clinic location: I participate in clinics at the Munroe-Meyer Instutute, UNMC Huntington’s Disease Center of Excellence, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, and MMI outreach clinics in Kearney and Scottsbluff.

For appointments and referrals: 402-559-6418