The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) has granted funding to four teams of researchers for the purpose of advancing osteopathically distinctive assessment-related research.
“We offer a heartfelt congratulations to this year’s recipients,” said John R. Gimpel, DO, MEd, president and CEO of the NBOME. “This work reflects the kind of innovation that drives meaningful progress in assessment. We are proud to support research that will ultimately help strengthen the future of osteopathic medical education and trust from the patients we serve.”
Information on the inaugural round of recipients is below.
Project Title: AI-Assisted Assessment of Oral Case Presentations in Clerkship OSCEs
Principal Investigators: Shiyuan Wang, PhD; Nils Brolis, DO; Jamie Iuliucci, APN, MSN
Institution: Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine
Purpose: To determine whether AI can be used to perform rubric-based grading of an oral case presentation equivalent to faculty evaluators with similar consistency and students will favor AI-generated feedback.
Project Title: Beyond Multiple Choice: Evaluating AI-Assisted Grading of Short-Answer Questions for Scalable Assessment of Clinical Reasoning in Osteopathic Medical Education
Principal Investigator: Sebastien Fuchs, MD, PhD
Institution: Western University of Health Sciences – College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific
Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and validity of using AI systems to grade short-answer questions (SAQs) in medical education, with the goal of enhancing assessment of higher-order cognitive skills.
Project Title: Predictive Study of COMAT Foundational Biomedical Science Targeted (FBS-T) Exam Scores in Predicting COMLEX-USA Level 1 Pass Rate and FBS-T Score Report Enhancement
Principal Investigator: Samuel Kadavakollu, PhD, MSc
Institution: Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine
Purpose: To support early identification of at-risk students, inform data-driven academic advising, and improve remediation strategies.
Project Title: Validity of AI-Assisted Item Writing for Osteopathic Principles and Practice Assessment
Principal Investigators: Raymond Hruby, DO, MS; Pedro Diniz, MV
Institution: Western University of Health Sciences – College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific
Purpose: To determine if, when compared to human-assisted multiple-choice questions (MCQs) AI-assisted MCQs will demonstrate similar expert-rated quality and fairness indicators, comparable initial examinee-based psychometric characteristics, and reduced item development time and perceived workload.
Selection Process
Applications for these awards were highly competitive. The funded projects were selected by a volunteer committee of NBOME board members and osteopathic researchers after reviewing more than 20 applications. The NBOME thanks all applicants for their interest and thoughtful submissions.
The NBOME anticipates opening a new grant cycle in 2027. Dates and application details are expected to be announced later in 2026.