National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners Installs New Officers

December 12, 2017

Philadelphia, PA — Today, the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME), the assessment organization for the osteopathic medical profession, announced the installment of three officers to its board of directors.

The following individuals were elected to serve as officers for the NBOME’s board of directors:

Board Chair: Dana C. Shaffer, DO, FACOFP dist.

As the Chair of the NBOME Board, Dr. Shaffer will lead the NBOME’s 2017-2019 strategic plan, ACEL and vision to become the global leader for the osteopathic medical profession and related health care professions. Dr. Shaffer has served on the NBOME’s board of directors since 2008, was vice chair from 2015-2017 and Secretary-Treasurer from 2013-2015. He chaired the Finance Committee and Liaison Committee, in addition to serving as a member of the Executive and Test Accommodations Committees. A distinguished fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP), Dr. Shaffer is a member of the Executive Council of the Conclave of Fellows. He currently serves as senior associate dean of osteopathic medical education for the University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine, as well as chief academic officer for Appalachian Osteopathic Postgraduate Training Institute Consortium (A-OPTIC). He serves on numerous local, state and national committees dealing with access to affordable medical care, scope of practice issues, the use of chronic pain medication, electronic medical records, and legislation. Dr. Shaffer practiced the complete spectrum of rural family medicine, including osteopathic manipulative medicine, obstetrics and emergency medicine for more than 20 years in Exira, Iowa. A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, he is a resident of Pikeville, Kentucky.

Board Vice-Chair: Geraldine T. O’Shea, DO

Dr. O’Shea is the NBOME’s newly installed Vice Chair for 2017-2019. Dr. O’Shea has served on the Board since 2009 and as its Secretary-Treasurer from 2015-2017. She chaired the Finance Committee and has been a member of numerous NBOME committees, including the Audit, Executive and Liaison Committees. In addition to her leadership roles at the NBOME, Dr. O’Shea is an active leader in the osteopathic medical profession and a trustee of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), where she serves on the Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and chairs the AOA’s Department of Business. As chair of the AOA’s Department of Research and Development, Dr. O’Shea oversaw five task force initiatives in public health and in 2014-2015 served as the AOA’s first vice president and vice chair of the Department of Education. She is a past president of the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California (OPSC) and the American Association of Osteopathic Medical Examiners. An osteopathic internist and medical director of the Women’s Medical Center in Jackson, California, she graduated from the Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific in Pomona, California, and resides in Jackson, California.

Board Secretary-Treasurer: Richard J. LaBaere, II, DO, MPH, FAODME

Dr. LaBaere will serve as the NBOME Secretary-Treasurer for 2017-2019. He is associate dean for postgraduate training/osteopathic postdoctoral training institution (OPTI) academic officer, and adjunct clinical professor of family medicine at A.T. Still University‒Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. LaBaere served in roles as residency program director, director of medical education, and as a designated institutional official for more than 20 years. In 2015, he was named to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Institutional Review Committee. He has served on the NBOME Board since 2010 and as a member of the Executive Committee, the Test Accommodations Committee, the COMLEX-USA Composite Examination Committee, and the Portfolio and Expanded Assessments Task Force. He was a member of the NBOME’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Enhancing COMLEX-USA. In 2006, Dr. LaBaere was named Osteopathic Family Physician of the Year by the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Family Physicians. He was inducted as a fellow in the American Osteopathic Directors of Medical Education Collegium in 2008. Dr. LaBaere earned his doctorate of osteopathic medicine from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and lives in Ortonville, Michigan.

The NBOME’s Board of Directors is comprised of twenty-two leaders, including two public members, whose strategic decision-making and guidance steer the organization through establishing policy, providing financial stewardship and ensuring that NBOME leadership and resources are in place and support achievement of the NBOME mission, vision and goals.

The mission of the NBOME is to protect the public by providing the means to assess competencies for osteopathic medicine and related health care professions. NBOME’s COMLEX-USA examination series provides the pathway to licensure for osteopathic physicians in the United States and numerous international jurisdictions, and is a requirement for graduation from colleges of osteopathic medicine.