National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners in the 21st century

he National Board of OsteopathicMedical Examiners (NBOME) is anot-for-profit organization whose mis-sion is to provide “for the public welfarea means to assess competency in thehealthcare disciplines relevant to osteo-pathic medicine.” The NBOME wasestablished in 1934 to provide an eval-uation instrument by which osteopath-ic physicians could seek medical licensurewith full practice rights across the nation.Currently, the Board of Directors ofNBOME consists of 21 members. Thesemembers are elected to the Board fortheir experience and expertise in the clin-ical and basic science disciplines, andrelevant experience in osteopathic med-ical education and evaluation. Membersof the Board come from all regions of thecountry, and each brings unique talentsto the Board. Additionally, representa-tives of the American Osteopathic Asso-ciation (AOA), American Associationof Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine(AACOM), and the American Associa-tion of Osteopathic Examiners (AAOE)have been included to broaden the scopeof membership of the Board.The NBOME has the followingstanding committees: Finance, Mem-bership, Research, Standards, Liaison,and Product. These committees meetregularly throughout the year to sup-port the work and mission of NBOME.The Research Committee has recent-ly assembled an expert advisory panelthat includes Barbara Plake, PhD, fromthe University of Nebraska; Mark Wil-son, PhD, from the University of Cali-fornia-Berkley; John Norcini, PhD, fromthe American Board of InternalMedicine; and Benjamin Wright, PhD,from the University of Chicago, MESAPsychometric Institute. The NBOME isrepresented on the panel by DavidBaron, DO, MEd (chair of the ResearchCommittee); Thomas Cavalieri, DO(Vice President of the Board); and Lin-jun Shen, PhD (Director of Testing). ThisResearch Advisory Panel guides theresearch efforts of NBOME.Through the Liaison Committee,NBOME maintains communication withthe schools, the students, and the statelicensing boards through representationfrom AACOM, the Student Osteopath-ic Medical Association (SOMA), theCouncil of Osteopathic Student Gov-ernment Presidents (COSGP), and theFederation of State Medical Boards(FSMB). This committee provides aforum in which concerns from these var-ious constituencies can be presented tothe NBOME Board of Directors.