Dudley-Smith began her career in health sciences as a registered dental hygienist working in private practices and long-term care facilities. In addition, she earned her master’s in healthcare and public administration and began her teaching career as an assistant professor of dental hygiene. While teaching, she went on to earn her doctorate in education leadership.

In 2022, Dudley-Smith was appointed health science program director and assistant professor for the online degree completion program at Quinnipiac. While teaching at Quinnipiac, she became a certified healthcare ethics consultant and dedicated her time to research on ethical care and treatment of patients by clinicians and administrators.

Combining her passions, Dudley-Smith took a predominant role teaching courses that are based on healthcare ethics. Currently, she teaches HM 404 Legal Aspects of Health Care Delivery, HSC 315 Bioethical Issues in the 21st Century and HSC 404 Healthcare Law and Ethics.

Dudley-Smith emphasizes the importance of including healthcare ethics in her courses so that can educate the next generation of healthcare professionals. In her classroom, she navigates discussions about palliative care, patient’s rights, inclusion, ageism, law, ethics and bioethics.

Holding a position on the Connecticut Medical Examining Board, Dudley-Smith is exposed to many real-world ethical cases that she uses to educate her students.

“This experience enhances class discussion for my students to gain insight into actual scenarios of unethical acts in the healthcare system,” said Dudley-Smith. “My research and conference presentations permit me to bring the most up-to-date information and cases for discussion in my courses.”

During her time at Quinnipiac, Dudley-Smith contributed her own chapter to the respected book, ‘Ethics for Health Promotion and Health Education.’ The text, published by Elsevier, seeks to unpack the ethical expectations in promoting and teaching health.

“My chapter aims to define dignity, confidentiality and privacy from many perspectives,” she said. “This includes global differences in interpretation and health professionals’ duty to promote and maintain dignity, confidentiality and privacy in clinical and public health settings.”

In addition to her contribution in this text, Dudley-Smith has also begun writing a chapter for the book, "Sustainable Ageing: Reimagining Healthy Ageing Through the Lens of Flagship Campaigns." In this text, soon to be published by Springer, Dudley-Smith provides her chapter titled ‘Initiatives to fight ageism and elderly abuse: A healthy aging perspective.’
 
As she continues her career, Dudley-Smith looks forward to further educating the students at Quinnipiac.

“I am looking forward to fostering the passion of students in their chosen career paths and aiding them to discover what path that may be,” said Dudley-Smith. “I am also working with my department to further enhance the health science curriculum to deliver new and high-quality courses.”

Splitting her time between research and education, Dudley-Smith emphasizes her appreciation for the Quinnipiac community.

“My favorite thing about QU is the people that I am fortunate enough to work with,” she said. “From administration, faculty, staff and students, everyone has been so welcoming, kind and supportive. They truly have the student’s best interest at heart.”