Russell Marion Nelson Sr. (born September 9, 1924) is an American surgeon and religious leader who is currently the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Prior to becoming an LDS Church apostle, he was an internationally renowned cardiothoracic surgeon. He has been an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve since 1984 and is the oldest living and second-most senior apostle in the church.Russell M. Nelson was born on September 9, 1924, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Marion C. Nelson (1897–1990) and his wife F. Edna Nelson (née Anderson; 1893–1983). Nelson studied at LDS Business College while in his mid-teens and then worked as an assistant secretary at a bank. He attended the University of Utah, earning a B.A. in 1945 and an M.D. in 1947. He then pursued joint surgical training and doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota. There, he worked on the research team responsible for developing the heart-lung machine that supported the first open-heart operation on a human being in 1951. After a two-year term of medical duty in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, being stationed in Korea, Japan, and at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he returned for additional surgical training at Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Wikipedia
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