SALT LAKE CITY-President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints received an honorary degree from the University of Utah Thursday during the Salt Lake City-based institution’s virtual graduation ceremony.

Pres. Nelson was among three honorary doctoral degree recipients Thursday, joining C. Hope Eccles and William J. Rutter, known as the “father of biotechnology.”

During a video presentation prepared prior to the ceremony, Pres. Nelson stated “No matter what your field of endeavor, it’s well to excel….do your work well, do it as well as anyone else can, and then it all equalizes out.”

Pres. Nelson has been affiliated with the University of Utah many years. In his life, he has previously been an undergraduate student, a research professor and a director. The erudite Pres. Nelson earned his medical degree in only two years from the university.

Pres. Nelson is also known for performing the first open-heart operation using the heart lung machine in Utah. He helped devise this instrument while a medical resident in Minnesota.

In 2018, the University of Utah created a Presidential Endowed Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery in his honor.