Ethics and Professionalism Award

Since its founding in 1920 the American College of Dentists has championed ethics, ethical behavior, and professionalism in dentistry. In keeping with its historical mission and its longstanding role as the “conscience of dentistry,” the Board of Regents desired a tangible means of recognizing exceptional contributions by individuals or organizations for the promotion of ethics and professionalism. This effort became the Ethics and Professionalism Award of the American College of Dentists and is supported by the Jerome B. Miller Family Foundation.

The 2022 recipient of the Ethics and Professionalism Award is the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, Kayhan Parsi, JD, PHD, HEC-C, President of the ASBH accepted the award on behalf of the organization.

The purpose of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities is to promote the exchange of ideas and foster multidisciplinary, and inter-professional scholarship, research, teaching, policy development, professional development, and collegiality among people engaged in all the endeavors related to clinical and academic bioethics and health-related humanities.

Founded in 1997 by the consolidation of three existing like- minded organizations, the American Association for Bioethics, the Society for Bioethics Consultation, and the Society for Health and Human Values, ASBH awards the HEC-C credential, a first of its kind, to both practicing healthcare ethics consultants and those serving in leadership roles within their institutions’ healthcare ethics initiatives. The program evaluates an individual knowledge and skills in areas of medical ethics, resolving conflicts using processes that adhere to healthcare ethics competencies. The Society contends the humanities are interdisciplinary by nature and enhance interprofessional and interdisciplinary awareness. Additionally, the humanities support a holistic and person-centered approach to care. Through its many and multi-faceted approaches, the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities has endeavored to level the playing field with a simple and tacit understanding that ethics in healthcare is a public health and public policy mandate and the patient/client safety imperative.