Director of Education: David Carnish, MA, MDiv, BCC

Rev. David Carnish, MA, MDiv, BCC is a native of Milledgeville, GA. An ordained Baptist minister, he has served as a chaplain since 1990 in Level I Trauma hospitals, nursing homes, hospice facilities and churches. He was an interim pastor and associate minister at Baptist churches in Louisville, KY, and San Francisco, CA. David began his CPE experience as an intern during seminary with Baptist Hospital East in Louisville, KY in 1993-1994. David entered a two-year CPE residency training in 1994 with Baptist Hospital in Columbia, SC. After residency, David served as the Trauma and Critical Care Chaplain for Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia, SC. David was a member of the final Board Certification Class for the College of Chaplains in 1998. In 2000, David entered SIT training to be a certified educator with ACPE at Palmetto Health in Columbia, SC before moving to San Francisco to complete certification with St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco under the mentorship of Michelle Shields. Previously, David served as a clinical pastoral educator with Erlanger Health System in Chattanooga, TN, Cone Health in Greensboro, NC, and Penn State Health in Hershey, PA. Within ACPE’s member body, David has served on regional accreditation, REM, theory paper reading and most recently the Board. He graduated from Valdosta State College in Valdosta, GA, with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and received his Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. In 2020, Carnish earned a Master of Arts in interdisciplinary humanities from Penn State Harrisburg Campus and is currently working toward a doctorate in Renaissance Art History at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University. He is married to Debbie and has two children, Asa and Emmanuel, together they reside in Elizabethtown, PA. David is a published poet, an art enthusiast, loves animals, and enjoys going to the theatre.