Wallach elected vice chair of National Board of Medical Examiners

Dr. Paul Wallach, vice dean for academic affairs at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, has been elected vice chair of the National Board of Medical Examiners Executive Board.

The NBME sets state recognized exams for medical students, like the United States Medical Licensing Examination, a multi-part professional exam that must be passed before a doctor can obtain a license to practice medicine in the United States. Membership of the NBME is composed of approximately 80 individuals that represent the academic community, national professional organizations, state licensing boards, students, residents, the federal government and the public. Responsibilities of the membership of the NBME also include recommending policy to and electing its board of directors.

Wallach, who also is the Leon Henri Charbonnier Endowed Chair in Medicine, has served the NBME as a volunteer for more than 20 years, including roles on United States Medical Licensing Examination committees, the Composite Committee and the Committee to Evaluate the USMLE Program. He has provided leadership as Chair of the Step 2 Ambulatory Committee, the Step 1 Gross Anatomy and Embryology Committee, the Step 2 Committee, the Advisory Committee for Medical School Programs, the International Oversight Committee and the NBME Finance Committee. He has volunteered as a member of the Board since 1998, the Executive Board since 2011 and as Treasurer of the NBME Executive Board from 2015-17.

As MCG’s vice dean, Wallach, an internist with 30 years in academic medicine, is responsible for administrative oversight of the education and student programs for the medical school. Since coming to MCG, Wallach has successfully led its Liaison Committee on Medical Education re-accreditation process, has favorably impacted the diversity of medical school classes, and is promoting novel enhancements to the educational program, including the integration of ultrasound across all four years of the curriculum, and the establishment of an academic house system that groups one of the nation’s largest medical school classes into smaller, tight-knit groups.

His previous appointments include vice dean for medical education at New York Medical College and vice dean for educational affairs at the University of South Florida Health’s Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa.

He received his medical degree from the University of South Florida and completed his internal medicine residency at its affiliated hospitals. In 1992, he completed a two-year faculty fellowship in general internal medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.  As a general internist, his clinical interests include lipid disorders and hypertension.