Christopher Nelson MD
Director of Clinical Skills and Medical Director of the Standardized Patient Program at Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Family Medicine physician at Carle Health System
Dr. Nelson grew up in Champaign, Illinois, where he later attended the University of Illinois, earning a bachelor’s degree in Biology. He then traveled north to study medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, earning his medical degree in 2002. He underwent residency training at the Southern Illinois University Family Medicine Residency Program in Springfield, Illinois, graduating in 2005. He is a board-certified Family Medicine physician, and has been practicing with the Carle Physicians Group and Carle Health since 2005.
Throughout his time in practice, Dr. Nelson has been involved in education of medical students and residents. He served 5 years as the Associate Program Director for the Carle Family Medicine Residency Program, with focus on resident recruitment, progress, and promotion. He later served for 5 years as course director for the Foundations of Clinical Medicine course at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana, known by many as "the legacy school."
In 2021, Dr. Nelson left his busy clinical practice to solely focus on the training of medical students at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the world’s first fully accredited engineering-based medical school. As the full-time Director of Clinical Skills, he oversees the instruction and assessment of clinical skills during their 4 years of training, including patient interviewing, physical examination, oral presentation and documentation, clinical reasoning, and patient management. He is also the Medical Director of the Standardized Patient Program at CIMED, consisting of 60+ individuals that have been hired and trained to portray numerous medical conditions or patient behaviors. Dr. Nelson also supervises medical students in their student clinic.
At Carle Illinois, Dr. Nelson serves on numerous committees involving curriculum and student promotions. As an instructor, he is a facilitator for the Introduction to Clinical Practice – Physical Diagnosis course since 2019, and course director for the Transition to Residency course, “Career Bootcamp” since 2021.
He has earned the "Resident Teacher Award" from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, and the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation "Teacher Development Award," and the “Innovation in Education Award” from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He is proud to have trained scores of students and residents, many of whom now practice in the Champaign-Urbana community, including the Family Physicians that care for him and his own family.