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, elected two new board members and recognized outgoing members for their service and dedication to the NBOME and the osteopathic profession, at its annual 2025 Board of Directors meeting in December.
New Board Members
Joyce A. Brown, DO, serves as the director of non-human patient simulation, course director for medical simulation, and is an associate professor at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine – Middletown Campus in New York. She has served the NBOME as a member of the National Faculty since 2015 and has been involved in several committees including the COMLEX-USA Blueprint Subcommittee, the Artificial Intelligence in Assessment Task Force, the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE Advisory Committee, and the COMLEX-USA Composite Examination Committee. She is completing her final term as COMLEX-USA Level 1 Examination Chair in December 2025. Brown received her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed a dual residency in emergency medicine and internal medicine at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, and is board certified in emergency medicine.
J. Michael Wieting, DO, MEd, was nominated to the NBOME Board of Directors by the American Society of Osteopathic Medical Regulators. Wieting is a long-standing member of the NBOME National Faculty, having served on the Test Accommodations, COMLEX-USA Level 3 Advisory, and Liaison committees as well as the COMAT Foundational Biomedical Sciences Body Systems Task Force and various COMLEX-USA Standard Setting panels. Wieting served on the founding team of Lincoln Memorial University – DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harrogate, Tenn. and has been the senior associate dean, interim dean on three occasions, director of program development, medical director of sports medicine, and assistant vice president for health sciences program development. He received his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from the Oklahoma State University – College of Osteopathic Medicine and his master’s in education from Central State University in Edmond, Okla. He completed residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinics in Minneapolis, and is board certified.
Outgoing Board Members
Mousumi Som, DO, MS, is a professor of internal medicine at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Som was elected to the NBOME Board of Directors in 2016 and has served on the Executive, Awards, Nominating, Test Accommodations, and the Independent Review committees. She has also served in numerous NBOME National Faculty roles, including as Internal Medicine COMAT Chair and as a member of COMLEX-USA item review and standard-setting panels. She received her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from the University of North Texas Health Science Center – Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed residency training in internal medicine at the Oklahoma State University Medical Center in Tulsa and is board certified.
Donald H. Polk, DO, is a practicing and board-certified osteopathic family medicine physician in rural Tennessee, and has been an active member of the medical staff at Wayne Medical Center in Waynesboro, Tenn., since 1975. Polk served on standard-setting panels for the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE examination in 2012 and 2015. After a long tenure on the Tennessee Board of Osteopathic Examination, Dr. Polk was elected to the board of the Federation of State Medical Boards in 2010, and as chair of that board in 2014. He was elected to the NBOME Board in 2016 following nomination from the American Association of Osteopathic Examiners (now called the American Society of Osteopathic Medical Regulators.) As an NBOME board member, Polk has served on the Executive, Finance, and Nominating committees. He previously served on the Standards and Assurances Committee and was chair of the Nominating Committee. Dr. Polk served 28 years on the Tennessee Army National Guard, promoted to Brigadier General and was awarded the Legion of Merit. He received his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from the Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine (now the Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine).
Outgoing Board Chair
Lori A. Kemper, DO, MS, has served as dean of the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (AZCOM) since 2007. She was elected to the NBOME Executive Committee in 2017 and served as secretary-treasurer in 2019, Vice-Chair 2021, and as Chair from 2023-2025. Kemper was elected to the Board in 2011 and has served as chair of the Finance and Liaison committees, and as a member of the Awards, Compensation, and Test Accommodation committees. She has served in numerous leadership roles at AZCOM and within the osteopathic medical profession; she currently serves on the Board of Deans of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and was chair from 2018-2020. She also served as a commissioner on the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. Kemper remains in part-time practice, caring for patients at Midwestern University’s Multispecialty Clinic in Glendale, Ariz. She received her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from A.T. Still University Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, began her career with the National Health Service Corps in Phoenix, and is board certified in family medicine.