Shelly Nickels

Shelly Nickels earned a high school diploma from Katy High School; a bachelor's degree from Trinity University in 2001; a graduate degree from Trinity University in 2024; and an M.D. from Marshall University in 2011. Her career experience includes working as a medical doctor.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am Dr Shelly Nickels, MD, MHA. I am a native Texan, a doctor, a mom and a healthcare policy expert. I attended Trinity University for undergrad and for my master's degree in healthcare administration. I have worked for 12 years in San Antonio as a hospitalist and a medical director.

I attended medical school and residency in West Virginia during the height of the opioid crisis. I worked with senators in Washington DC through my local healthcare policy advocacy group to develop programs to curb the abuse and diversion of controlled substances.

I have three children under the age of 18 and as a working doctor and mom I know what it means to work hard. I know how to set my mind on a task and get the job done, even when it is really hard and takes a long time. I am a creative thinker and a strong believer in getting lots of people together to come up with solutions to hard problems.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

As a doctor running for healthcare as a human right in Texas, this means expanding Medicaid for children, the elderly in long term care and those with disabilities. This also means protecting reproductive rights for women and men, including access to IVF and surrogacy. We must negotiate and cap drug prices. Healthcare is unaffordable for many in our state and we must do everything we can to lower costs at every level and allow for real cost transparency and choices for patients.We must insure that Texans have clean air, clean water and clean, reliable energy. In doing that we must regulate corporations to not pollute our natural resources and pay their fair share of taxes, lifting the burden off of households and small businesses in our community. We must also ensure that these billionaire owned corporations face accountability when they break the rules. We must ensure that the jobs that they create are given to Texans, not just the lowest bidder, and that they are good, safe jobs.We need to provide every child a strong public school system which means funding pre-K. We must provide evidence-based comprehensive sex education at age appropriate levels.

And we need to ensure that not another single dollar is given to vouchers which have been shown to be a handout to wealthy families at the expense of our public schools.

Public schools are a way out of poverty for so many and we need to hold every school that receives public money accountable for our future.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Healthcare! It affects everyone regardless of party. It is also huge that people feel that there is nothing to be done.

The reality is that there are so many things that can be done RIGHT NOW and then so much more once we reach some stabilization and sanity. There is a severe lack of medical experts in the Texas Legislature, so the decisions are being made by people with little knowledge of the human body or how the healthcare system actually works.

I want to be the expert in the room to educate other law makers so that we can make the best informed decisions for Texans together.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Planned Parenthood