Dear Colleagues,
If you are reading this I believe you may be a member of NBME’s governance, a volunteer on a committee, a member of NBME’s Council, or perhaps an individual interested in learning about how you might engage with NBME. Regardless, welcome to our Volunteer Communities! In this post I will briefly describe this platform, cite some of the opportunities and benefits, and provide information about how you can get involved.
NBME changed elements of its governance several years ago to better align with our evolving activities and needs. Some of the changes were intended to improve engagement with and between the many volunteers whose contributions are vital to our success. NBME Volunteer Communities provide a forum for networking and community engagement, streamlining committee and working group operations, and improving transparency into opportunities to get involved.
Users can connect with volunteers and staff both within and across committees. This creates opportunities to continue conversations beyond a committee meeting or our annual meeting. With an online community, we’re able to reach members year-round and cultivate a collaborative space for networking, resources, and learning. We’ll be supporting the operation of all of NBME’s and USMLE’s volunteer committees on this platform. A few specific benefits of this: more transparency into volunteer opportunities, consolidated calendars that show committee members’ meetings and assignments across their various NBME/USMLE engagements, and online data self-service (no more paper data sheets!).
Online communities thrive when their end users, rather than staff, participate and engage within the community, so please consider this YOUR space to engage with NBME’s volunteers and staff. The interface is designed to be fairly intuitive, but you may wish to have our staff help you explore the rich features. Please feel free to reach out to members of our Volunteer Services team, @Jessi Fails, MS or @Najee Ali, to learn more.
I’ll conclude by welcoming new members and potential members to NBME’s community, and extend my thanks to our established volunteers for all you do to advance our mission – we couldn’t do it without you!
PJK