Ethics and Professionalism Award
“ I learned ethics as a Fellow of the American College of Dentists. I noticed that those around me always had a little time to discuss things when I was unsure what to do and look for ways to build the profession. It has been infectious. I got ethics by contact with the many who are working to build a moral community. I have been so fortunate to travel with you.”
– David Chambers
Dr. David W. Chambers
M
ore than most, Dr. David Chambers understands the role of ethics in the “professionalization” of those who are charged to care for others. He has always encouraged an open discussion of the challenges in teaching ethics, and he has committed to an inventory of actions that make it easier to be ethical. He teaches with the conviction that ethics instruction gives clinicians vital knowledge not available from science alone. Teaching ethics in this way, or, better still, encouraging a state of mind that will ensure that ethical issues become an integral part of clinical practice throughout a doctor’s career, requires considerable organizational skills and enthusiasm. As it turns out, David appears to possess plenty of both.
Journal of the American College of Dentists
Dr. Chambers is professor of orthodontics and former associate dean for academic affairs and scholarship at the University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco. He also served as the editor of the Journal of the American College of Dentists. He has served as a consultant to most national dental organizations and dental schools in the United States and Canada, as well having served as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and on the Commission on Dental Accreditation. He has earned the EdM, MBA, and PhD degrees and has been a visiting scholar in philosophy at Cambridge University, the London School of Economics, and UC Berkeley. He has published a monthly column on ethics in the Cal-
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