PHILADELPHIA —The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME), an independent, nonprofit organization that provides competency assessments for osteopathic medical licensure and related health care professions, honored Richard J. LaBaere II, DO, MPH, DO, with the NBOME Santucci Award at its recent Board of Directors meeting on December 13.
The Santucci Award is the highest honor the NBOME bestows, given to members of its Board, staff, or committees with 10 or more years of service for their outstanding contributions to the mission of the NBOME.
LaBaere is the associate dean for graduate medical education (GME) and an adjunct clinical professor of family medicine at A.T. Still University–Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM) in Kirksville, Mo.
He is the immediate past Chair of the NBOME Board of Directors and was first elected in 2010. He has served as chair of the NBOME’s Special Commission on Osteopathic Medical Licensure Assessment (2020-2022), and previously as a member of the NBOME’s Blue-Ribbon Panel on Enhancing COMLEX-USA (2010-2016).
He has been active and in leadership roles on the Testing and Accommodations and Finance committees, and on NBOME’s Executive Committee. When elected to the NBOME Board in 2010, he was the first official nominee of the osteopathic GME community (then the Association of Osteopathic Directors and Medical Educators, now called the Assembly of Osteopathic Graduate Medical Educators).
Over the past 30 years, LaBaere has served in various roles as family medicine residency program director, director of medical education, and regional assistant dean, and today provides leadership as designated institutional official for Still OPTI, an accredited sponsoring institution, and for the National Center for Osteopathic Principles and Practice Education at ATSU-KCOM.
His work includes helping develop new graduate medical education programs in the areas of greatest need and advancing the integration of osteopathic principles and practice into clinical education across the medical education continuum.
Board certified in osteopathic family medicine, LaBaere started his career in private practice in Grand Blanc, Mich., where he immediately became involved in graduate medical education. In 2006, he was named Osteopathic Family Physician of the Year by the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Family Physicians. In 2007, he was inducted into the American Osteopathic Association’s Mentor Hall of Fame, and in 2008, he was named a fellow in the collegium of the AODME. He later served as that organization’s president in 2013.
In 2022, LaBaere was recognized as a fellow in the National Academy for Osteopathic Medical Educators. He has also served as a member of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Institutional Review Committee.
LaBaere received his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his master’s in public health from the University of Michigan, and his residency training in family medicine at the Flint Osteopathic Hospital in Michigan.
Previous Santucci Award Recipients
- 2025 | Peter B. Ajluni, DO
- 2023 | Dana C. Shaffer, DO
- 2022 | Eugene A. Oliveri, DO | Geraldine T. O’Shea, DO
- 2021 | Ronald R. Burns, DO, MS
- 2019 | Gary L. Slick, DO, MA
- 2018 | Sydney L. Steele, JD
- 2017 | Wayne R. Carlsen, DO
- 2016 | William G. Anderson, DO
- 2015 | John W. Becher, DO | Janice A. Knebl, DO, MBA
- 2014 | John E. Thornburg, DO, PhD | Shirley Bodett
- 2013 | Boyd R. Buser, DO
- 2012 | Sheryl Bushman, DO | Linjun Shen, PhD, MPH
- 2011 | Joseph F. Smoley, PhD
- 2010 | Frederick G. Meoli, DO
- 2009 | Thomas F. Santucci, Jr.,DO