David Roth, PhD

​Diplomate in Pastoral Supervision/CPE Supervisor 

Founder and Chief Vision Officer ClinicalChaplaincy.org

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David Roth is a board-certified clinical chaplain,

diplomate supervisor, and educator whose career has

focused on bringing clinical depth, institutional value,

and human presence to spiritual care.

 

He has directed spiritual care services in the hospitals

and hospices of major healthcare systems, trained and

supervised scores of chaplains-in-training, and developed

innovative programs that align chaplaincy with organizational

goals.

 

As founder of ClinicalChaplaincy.org, Dr. Roth leads training and consulting initiatives that emphasize psychodynamically informed clinical practice. He is the first member of the pastoral and spiritual care profession to be recognized as a Clinical Fellow of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society, reflecting his distinctive integration of psychodynamic theory, affective neuroscience, and systems thinking in ways that respect all belief systems.

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His Right Resource Model of Spiritual Care helps healthcare institutions provide exceptionally skilled, clinically grounded care in ways that are compassionate and also fiscally responsible.

Dr. Roth also brings extensive experience in team development and interdisciplinary collaboration. Drawing on group relations theory, he helps chaplains and healthcare leaders strengthen their capacity to work together within complex systems — fostering resilience, clarity of role, and more effective patient- and family-centered care.

He earned his PhD in theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, and later trained in clinical pastoral education (ACPE), psychoanalysis (NYU), and sex and relationship therapy (UMDNJ). He has held academic appointments at Brigham Young University, Franciscan University, the Graduate Institute of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, and elsewhere, and has served on national certifying boards shaping the future of clinical chaplaincy.

He also serves as editor and publisher with Verbum Icon, curating the Boisen Books Project and editing the first complete edition of the Sigmund Freud–Oskar Pfister correspondence, forthcoming in 2026.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Roth served as a combat arms officer in the Army and as Public Affairs Officer to General Colin Powell, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — experience that honed his leadership, communications, and organizational skills, and continues to inform his ability to guide teams in high-stakes environments.

Based in Arizona, he renews himself through desert hiking and kayaking, consciously integrating these somatic practices to cultivate presence and resilience in his work. 

 

Email to:

davidroth@clinicalchaplaincy.org

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