Matthew Nielsen, MD received his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the Brady Urological Institute of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. After residency, Dr. Nielsen served on the faculty at Johns Hopkins prior to joining the UNC Urology faculty in 2009. In addition to his position as Rhodes Distinguished Professor and Chair of the UNC Department of Urology, Dr. Nielsen also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Policy & Management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Dr. Nielsen’s clinical practice is focused in urologic oncology—in particular, the treatment of bladder, prostate and kidney cancer. He is a member of the integrated Multidisciplinary Genitourinary Oncology Group at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and he served as Director of the Division of Urologic Oncology from 2013-2018. Dr. Nielsen is committed to providing compassionate, individualized, patient-centered care, and has been selected by his peers to be named among the Best Doctors in America in Urology since 2013. His research in medical decision making, cancer care quality and treatment outcomes has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and The American Cancer Society, and nationally recognized by the Rising Stars in Urology Research Award.

Alongside his clinical, research and teaching activities, Dr. Nielsen is actively engaged in quality improvement and patient safety efforts as Associate Director of the UNC Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement and other leadership roles in the UNC Health Care System, where he received the Physician Friend of Nursing Award in 2017. He has been an active contributor to multiple national organizations, as a member of the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Committee of the American Urological Association, serving as Chair from 2019-2022, as well as the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI) and the American College of Physicians’ High Value Care Task Force and Performance Measurement Committee. In 2019, he was appointed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Technical Expert Panel for the CMS Quality Measure Development Plan and Quality Measure Index.