Karl Nelson

A founding member of the executive team, Karl Nelson, RN, MBA, has served as VADovations’ Vice President and Director of Clinical Affairs since 2009. Up until 2018, he was also Administrative Director of INTEGRIS Advanced Cardiac Care, specializing in heart failure, heart transplant, mechanical circulatory support and acute support/ECMO. In collaboration with physician leaders, his team designed and built a fully integrated heart failure program that accounted for 20 heart transplants, 70 chronic MCS implants, 139 ECMO insertions and 700 new outpatient heart failure referrals annually from the regional heart failure network. During his tenure, Nelson pioneered many of early MCS clinical protocols and delivery methods to reduce adverse events, and organized an MCS quality program that has become the standard around the world.

With a degree in finance from the University of Utah and an MBA from Brigham Young University, Nelson began his career as a financial advisor before making a major career change and earning his nursing degree from the University of Utah. Nelson has been able to bring his administrative and clinical backgrounds to the MCS field to build programs that are making positive contributions to the hospitals. He was one of the first LVAD coordinators in the U.S. and served as Clinical Director for the Utah Artificial Heart Program. With over 25 years of experience in the field, Nelson’s professional affiliations include the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs and the Hospital Alliance of LVADs, where he served as the founding president in 2001.