Bob Dent serves as system chief nursing executive for the University of Maryland Medical System, where he provides system-level executive leadership for nursing across the academic health system’s hospitals and care sites in Maryland.
In that role he sets standards for nursing practice, advances professional development and workforce strategy, partners with schools of nursing to strengthen the workforce pipeline, and supports the system’s high reliability journey. Dr. Dent brings more than three decades of clinical, operational and academic leadership experience, having advanced from nursing assistant and licensed vocational nurse to chief operating officer and chief nursing officer.
Before joining UMMS, he served as vice president of patient care and CNO within Emory Healthcare, and previously as senior vice president, COO and CNO at Midland Health in Midland, Texas, where he led for more than a decade.
Earlier in his career he was CNO of Banner Health’s Sterling Regional MedCenter in Sterling, Colorado, and dean of a community college health sciences center. A past president of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, Dr. Dent is widely recognized for advancing nursing leadership development, workplace culture and mental health advocacy in health care. He has authored five books and numerous journal articles and book chapters on leadership, organizational culture, interprofessional collaboration and staffing excellence, and he is the founder of DBD Coaching & Consulting.
Dr. Dent earned his Doctor of Nursing Practice from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and holds an MBA in health care management and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Phoenix. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the American Organization for Nursing Leadership and the American College of Healthcare Executives, and his recognitions include Modern Healthcare’s Up and Comers, the Richard Hader Visionary Leader Award, Texas Tech Distinguished Alumni honors, and the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses’ Anthony J. Jannetti Award. He has held academic appointments with Emory University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and the University of Texas Permian Basin, and currently serves as an executive coach to Executive Doctor of Nursing Practice students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.