If you would like to sign on to this petition, please add your name, position, and institution at
this link. The text is below. If it has sufficient traction, I will send it on to NBME on Monday.
Dear Dr. Katsufrakis and the National Board of Medical Examiners:
Thank you for your partnership in helping design and administer quality examinations of medical knowledge and clinical skills for physicians-in-training. We are writing with an important and urgent request.
As you know, our institutions are all responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and making major and quick changes to our clinical, research and education programs to mitigate the spread of the virus and to provide care for our patients. Many of us have suspended classroom teaching for medical students in an effort to promote social distancing. Some of us have made the difficult choice of significantly altering or suspending clinical teaching.
Our request is that the NBME provide temporary relief from the proctoring requirement for school-administered examinations (subject examinations and custom assessments). Administering these examinations on an honor code during this extraordinary time would help us maintain continuity in our programs while supporting mitigation measures.
Thank you for your partnership and consideration.
Jonathan Amiel, MD
Interim Co-Vice Dean for Education
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons
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Jonathan Amiel
Interim Co-Vice Dean for Education
Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons
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