Dr. Daniel L. Dent is the chair of the Department of Medical Education, professor and vice chair for Education in the Department of Surgery in the Division of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, and the associate director for Workforce Development for the Mays Cancer Center at University of Texas (UT) Health San Antonio. His clinical practice is in trauma, critical care, and acute care surgery.

Dr. Dent earned his bachelor's degree in psychology at Duke University and his medical degree from the University of South Florida. He completed his residency and a year of research in trauma and nutrition support at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

Dr. Dent joined the faculty at UT Health San Antonio in 1996 and has received numerous teaching excellence awards as voted by medical students and residents. He has mentored medical students and residents such that they have received awards or national recognition from a dozen national organizations. He served as surgery program director (2006-2021), was named a Distinguished Teaching Professor by the University of Texas System (2010), and received the UT Health San Antonio Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence (2016). He has published more than 100 manuscripts, including more than 30 that are specific to medical education. He leads a research team in medical education that has investigated patient acceptance of surgical residents in their care, surgical skills acquisition, factors affecting boards pass rates, and the fate of preliminary surgical residents, among other topics.

Dr. Dent is a past president of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS), chair of the APDS Research Fund, and an ex-officio member of the APDS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee that was founded under his leadership. Since the founding of this committee, the APDS has seen a statistically significant change in the diversity of the leadership of the organization. Dr. Dent was selected to represent the organization in the first cohort of the ACGME Equity Matters® initiative. He is also the APDS representative to the Organization of Program Director Associations, where he serves as chair.

Dr. Dent serves on the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Board of Directors of the American Board of Surgery. He is a member of the ACS delegation to the American Medical Association House of Delegates. He served on the Clinician Educator Milestones Working Group, a collaborative effort of the Association of American Medical Colleges, ACGME, and Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. He completed the ACGME’s Developing Faculty Competencies in Assessment course, for which he now serves as a regional course director.