Elizabeth DeCamp McInerny Professor for Ethics, Director, Geisel Ethics and Human Values Program, Pr
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
William Nelson, PhD, MDiv, is Professor Emeritus at the Geisel School of Medicine. Until August 2025 he held the Elizabeth DeCamp McInerny Professorship; Professor in The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and the Departments of Medical Education and Community and Family Medicine; He served as the Director of the Ethics and Human Values Program at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
The author of over 110 articles, seven edited books and many book chapters; he has delivered hundreds of invited lectures, papers, and workshops on organizational and clinical ethics topics in the US and internationally. Dr. Nelson’s extensive teaching, publications, and research was directed toward increasing the understanding that ethics is foundational to the delivery of health care and health. Previously, he served as the Chief of Ethics Education for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for Health Care Ethics, which he co-founded. He has received many awards including the United States Congressional Excalibur Award for Public Service for his efforts concerning the ethical care of the terminally ill. From 1986-1989, he was a W.K. Kellogg National Leadership Fellow studying US and international health care policy. And from 2008-2009, he was a National Rural Health Association Leadership Fellow. In 2004 he received the Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health’s highest honor, the Exemplary Service Award. Also, in 2004, the Department of Veterans Affairs established the annual competitive “William A. Nelson Award for Excellence in Health Care Ethics.” In 2006 Dr. Nelson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Elmhurst University. In 2013 received an Honorary Fellow (HFACHE) from the American College of Healthcare Executives. In 2013 and 2025 he received the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice’s Teaching Excellence Award and in 2018 he was inducted to the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth’s Academy of Master Educators.
Growing an Effective Ethics Committee in Rural, Critical Access Hospitals
Monday, March 2, 2026
3:15pm - 4:15pm CT