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 completed a bachelor's degree in psychology at Duke University and obtained 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 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 board 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) and past chair of the General Surgery Board of the American Board of Surgery. He is an honorary member of the Society for Black Academic Surgeons, and the president of the Southwestern Surgical Congress.

Dr. Dent 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.