1. Skip to navigation
  2. Skip to content

Our Team

Heidi Romans Nelson
Chief Executive Officer

Heidi Nelson

On September 1, 2010, Heidi Nelson assumed the role of CEO of Duffy Health Center, which provides health care to persons who are homeless and at risk for homelessness on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Duffy’s main health center site is located in Hyannis, and the service area encompasses all of Barnstable County through the mobile health clinic. In 2009, Duffy medical, behavioral health and case management staff cared for over 2,400 patients through 22,000 visits. Ms. Nelson is responsible for program development, funding support, advocacy on behalf of persons experiencing homelessness, and representing Duffy at the local, state and national level. 

For 18 years prior, Heidi was the Executive Director of Heartland Health Outreach, Inc., in Chicago, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights. With a budget of $18 million in FY2010 and 240 employees, HHO served over 15,000 homeless and impoverished persons per year offering over 60,000 primary care, mental health, dental and social service visits. From 1987 to 1992, Ms. Nelson was Assistant Vice President at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, serving in a number of operations management roles, including AVP for Support Services and Director of Professional Services.

Heidi was the Chair of the Board of Managers of the Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services, an integrated service delivery network of community health centers in Chicago, from 2000 to 2010. She served as President of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council in 1996, and currently is the Planning Committee Chair. She served on numerous local committees and councils in Chicago that address health issues related to homelessness and poverty. She serves on the board of the national HIV training and technical assistance organization known as HealthHIV, and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.

Ms. Nelson is a past president (1992) of the Chicago Health Executives Forum, and held numerous leadership positions at her church, the First United Methodist Church of Chicago (Chicago Temple). Heidi served as adjunct faculty at Northwestern University since 2003, where she taught health policy. She received the Athena Award for Outstanding Business Woman in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, and was selected for the American College of Health Care Executives local Regent’s Award in 1999. She became a Fellow of the College in 2008.

Ms. Nelson received her master’s degree in health services administration from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 1985, and remained in Ann Arbor for two years as the Fellow in Academic Medical Center Administration at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Her bachelor’s degree is in Community Health Education from the University of Illinois.