Dr. Daniel L. Dent is the chair of the Department of Medical Education and Professor and vice chair for education in the Department of Surgery in the Division of Trauma and Emergency Surgery at University of Texas (UT) Health San Antonio. His clinical practice is in trauma, critical care, and acute care surgery and he is the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma representative to the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Advisory Council for General 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 90 manuscripts, including more than 20 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^TM initiative. He is also the APDS representative to the Organization of Program Director Associations, where he serves as the chair-elect.

Dr. Dent is a councilor of the American Board of Surgery, where he has serves as the chair of the General Surgery Board. He has previously served on the Executive Committee of the ACS Board of Governors as lead of the Education Pillar, secretary, and vice chair. He is a voting member of the American Medical Association House of Delegates as a representative from the ACS. 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.