Founded in 1915, the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) is a non-profit

organization in the United States that creates and oversees exams for medical
professionals. Medical licensing authorities in the United States use the United
States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) for medical students and residents to
help determine eligibility for granting and recognizing medical licenses. The USMLE
was developed in collaboration with the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB).
[1] Additionally, the NBME develops tests and resources that are utilized by
medical educators, practicing physicians, medical students, and state-mandated
exams for licensed physicians.[2][3]

"Protect the health of the public through state of the art assessment of health
professionals" is the stated objective of NBME, which also highlights that
"although NBME's mission is
as well as the creation of evaluation tools." The University City Science Center
research campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is home to the headquarters of NBME.
[4]

The medical community called for an emergency committee, including student

representatives, to address the USMLE Step 1 score reporting speed to pass/fail
before 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd Protests. The committee
was accused of failing to act in a financially or otherwise conflict-of-interest
manner.[5][6]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prometric testing sites were forced to close in mid-
March 2020 in accordance with local health and safety regulations. For a few
months, prometric center administrations of NBME-developed exams, including the
USMLE, Health Professionals, and NBME Subject Examinations, were entirely
discontinued.[5][7] The USMLE waived the testing eligibility period extensions
cost.