Heidi Nelson

Heidi Nelson, MD is the Fred C. Andersen Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Mayo Clinic, where she has led one of North America's most productive colorectal surgical oncology programs for more than two decades. She is the principal investigator of the landmark Clinical Outcomes of Surgical Therapy (COST) trial — the first definitive North American randomized controlled trial demonstrating that laparoscopic colectomy for colon cancer produces equivalent long-term cancer outcomes with superior short-term recovery compared with open resection, changing the standard of care worldwide. Beyond the COST trial, Dr. Nelson has led large-scale investigations into robotic-assisted rectal surgery, including her role in the ROLARR trial comparisons and subsequent multi-institutional robotic rectal resection registries. Her work on total mesorectal excision quality, surgical margin assessment, and standardization of rectal cancer operative technique has elevated surgical precision standards nationally. She has also driven important research on colorectal cancer screening, hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes, and the integration of enhanced recovery pathways (ERAS) in colorectal oncology. Dr. Nelson served as President of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) and the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. She has received every major honor in colorectal and general surgical oncology and has trained dozens of academic colorectal surgeons across North America.