The NBOME Honors Two with John E. Thornburg, DO, PhD, National Faculty Leadership Award
December 13, 2022
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 Charles A. Finch, DO, and Michael F. Oliverio, DO, with the John E. Thornburg DO, PhD, National Faculty Leadership Award at its annual Board Meeting in December.
The Thornburg Award is bestowed periodically to National Faculty leadership members who have distinguished themselves by their longstanding contributions to examination development, committee work, or related activities. It is named for longtime National Faculty Chair John E. Thornburg, DO, PhD, who diligently served the NBOME in numerous capacities for four decades.
Charles A. Finch, DO, is a clinical professor of emergency medicine and chair of the Integrative Medicine Department at Midwestern University — Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine. In addition, he currently practices at International Medical Direction, LLC, and is an attending emergency medicine physician at Dignity Health Arizona.
Dr. Finch has provided numerous contributions as a leader on NBOME’s National Faculty. NBOME. He served on the Case Development Committee and as a SOAP note physician examiner for the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE from 2005-2020, and during that time, he became active in test development with other COMLEX-USA examinations, particularly the COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE.
He served as National Faculty Chair for the COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE from 2014-2021, and also served on the COMLEX-USA Composite Examination Committee, with leadership roles on numerous task forces and work groups.
In 2021, he co-authored a manuscript published in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine entitled “Examining Concurrent Validity between COMLEX-USA Level 2-Cognitive Evaluation (CE) and COMLEX-USA Level 2-Performance Evaluation (PE),” a seminal publication on the validity of COMLEX-USA. He continues to serve on the NBOME Blueprint Subcommittee and is engaged in National Faculty activities, including item-writing workshops.
Michael F. Oliverio, DO, is a solo practice osteopathic physician delivering osteopathic manipulative medicine and osteopathic family medicine to his patients on Long Island, New York since 2003.
Dr. Oliverio earned his DO degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (now the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine) in 1997 after completing a one-year undergraduate fellowship in OMM.
His service to the NBOME began in 2001 as an exam reviewer/item writer. Most recently, he served as National Chair for COMLEX-USA Level 3 from 2013-2022. During that time, he helped to shepherd the adoption of Clinical Decision Making items and the expansion of COMLEX-USA Level 3 to a two-day exam, with an updated, competency-based blueprint.
Dr. Oliverio has served on numerous National Faculty task forces and subcommittees, including the innovative POCKET Committee. He also served as a standard-setting panelist for COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE.
In 2020, Dr. Oliverio was elected to the NBOME Board of Directors, and will continue his service to the NBOME in 2023 as National Faculty Chair of COMVEX.
“Our National Faculty is one of our most important resources for ensuring the assessment products offered by the NBOME remain fair, valid, and reliable,” said John R. Gimpel, DO, MEd, president and CEO of the NBOME. “Dr. Finch and Dr. Oliverio are two examples of the unparalleled expertise offered by our National Faculty members.”
