WVU professor honored with national Distinguished Service Award

West Virginia University Professor Christopher Martin, MD, MSc, has been selected to receive the National Board of Medical Examiners Edithe J. Levit Distinguished Service Award.

Dr. Martin serves as the director of the WVU Health Sciences Global Engagement Office and Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency Program as well as a professor in the School of Medicine Department of Medicine and School of Public Health Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences.

Named in honor of Edithe J. Levit, who served as NBME president from 1977-1986, the award recognizes individuals who have provided exceptional service to NBME that is essential for protecting the health of the public and driving forward assessment in medical education.

“Of all my external professional engagements, I consider my work with the NBME as the most satisfying,” Martin said. “It has been my privilege to have benefitted from professional growth and rejuvenation over my years of working with a first-class organization, which has been a reward in and of itself. I serve on committees with gifted medical educators from across the country and the world. Direct involvement in the evaluation of new physicians is the most effective continuing medical evaluation one could ask for.”

Martin’s involvement with NBME began in 2007, and he currently serves on the Global Advisory Committee. He recently completed an eight-year term on the 80-member NBME Council which advises the Board of Directors. Throughout his time serving the organization, he has been involved in several test development committees writing and reviewing questions used for the three-part United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) which must be passed by all allopathic (MD) physicians in order to obtain a medical license.