Phone: 913.588.5240
Fax: 913.588.1481
E-mail: mnielsen@kumc.edu
Dr. Nielsen recently returned to the University of Kansas Medical Center after serving as the executive director of the Kansas Health Policy Authority for the past three years. She currently serves as vice chancellor for Public Policy and Planning and a faculty member within the Department of Health Policy and Management. Dr. Nielsen also serves as associate director of public policy at the Institute of Public and Community Health.
When the Kansas Health Policy Authority (KHPA) was established in 2005, Dr. Nielsen was appointed by Kathleen Sebelius to serve as the first chair of the authority and, in 2006, accepted the position as the authority’s executive director. The KHPA is the principal health care agency for the state of Kansas and is tasked with developing and maintaining a coordinated health policy agenda that combines the effective purchasing and administration of health care with promotion-oriented public health strategies. It serves as the single state Medicaid agency in the state.
While at KHPA, Dr. Nielsen oversaw the administration of the medical portion of Kansas Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, MediKan, which provides coverage for certain low-income disabled Kansans, the State Employee Health Program and the State Self-Insurance Fund that provides workers compensation coverage to state employees.
Dr. Nielsen’s interest in health begins with her undergraduate days at Briar Cliff College where she received a bachelors of science degree in biology and psychology. She also holds a doctorate in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (Phi Beta Kappa) and a master’s degree in public health from George Washington University. Her interest in health and public health intensified during the years she spent as a Peace Corps volunteer working for Ministry of Public Health in Thailand. Prior to her time in Thailand, she also served for six years in the US Army Reserves.
Before coming to Kansas in 2002, Dr. Nielsen spent 10 years in Washington DC. During the debate over comprehensive health care reform in the 1990s, she worked as a legislative assistant to then U.S Senator Bob Kerrey D-Nebraska. After completing her PhD, she worked as a health lobbyist and then assistant director of legislation for the American Federal of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
She previously served KU Medical Center as assistant vice chancellor for health policy and assistant professor at the KU School of Medicine. Marci and her husband have twin eight year old daughters and live in Lawrence, Kansas.
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The University of Kansas Medical Center