Dr. Marie Nelson
Marie Nelson, MD, will be joining the Little Falls health care team effective Feb. 19, 2018. Having built experience in rural healthcare for the first few years of her practice, she has decided to bring her skills and enthusiasm to Morrison County and the surrounding area of central Minnesota.
Dr. Nelson has taken a long-traveled approach to arriving at what she describes as a familiar and exciting location in Little Falls. Having grown up in Brainerd, with family ties to Morrison County, she achieved an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Notre Dame, followed by medical school at the Duluth and Minneapolis campuses of the University of Minnesota. Residency training took Dr. Nelson and her family to the CHI Creighton University Medical Center and affiliated hospitals in Omaha, NE. Since completing residency training in July of 2015, she has been practicing full spectrum obstetrics and gynecology at other rural Minnesota practices.
A long-standing connection to the Morrison County medical community is not the only reason that Dr. Nelson chose Little Falls as her new professional home. She and her family plan to become involved in the local community and enjoy the area’s many other attributes as well. As a third generation physician at St. Gabriel’s Hospital, she is happy to expand upon her connections and family history in the area.
A focus on the human interactions and patient-centered care have been driving forces in Dr. Nelson’s career. She began her undergraduate studies pursing engineering, but quickly discovered that it lacked the interpersonal connections that make health care truly rewarding.
She says, “Serving the women’s health community is more rewarding than anything else I could be doing.” After exploring various fields of healthcare, she chose the field of OB/GYN. “I found myself gravitating toward maternal and women’s healthcare.”
The specialty fits her well. “It has some primary care aspects, which is nice, and I really enjoy delivering babies and the opportunity to perform surgery as well,” she says.
She enjoyed and excelled in her residency training at Creighton, stating “The OB/GYN residency program is one of Creighton’s smaller residency programs so it’s very ‘hands-on’ surgical training and they really involve the residents in all aspects of patient care. It was a great experience.”
The practice opportunity in Little Falls was appealing for a variety of reasons. Family history is only one of the encouraging aspects of joining the local healthcare team. An opportunity to meet a wide range of women’s health needs was a deciding factor as well. Some of the services she will be offering include incontinence assessment and treatment, pelvic floor procedures, minimally invasive gynecology, endometriosis treatments, management ovarian cysts and many other gynecological symptoms that are present in many women’s lives. Obstetrics, including high-risk pregnancy management, will also be a major focus of Dr. Nelson’s new practice.
Dr. Nelson along with her husband and two children are currently relocating to the Little Falls area. They are looking forward to enjoying the community as well as their mutually enjoyed hobbies of fishing, downhill skiing, and outdoor recreation.
Family Medical Center has begun taking appointments. Women interested in making an appointment with Dr. Nelson, whose office will be on the second floor of the clinic, can call the Family Medical Center appointment line at 320-631-7000. Please look for further details about an upcoming open house and the opportunity to meet Dr. Nelson and learn more about her practice and herself.