Al- Mehdi recognized by USMLE for service

The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), administered by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), recently recognized Abu-Bakr Al-Mehdi, M.D., Ph.D., for more than a decade of service to the program. 

Al-Mehdi is a professor of medical education and pharmacology at the Whiddon College of Medicine. He also serves as assistant dean of assessment and evaluation at the college and is the executive chief proctor of the USMLE Step exams.

He has been volunteering for both NBME activities and the USMLE program since 2014 and currently serves as a member of the USMLE Pharmacological Advertisements Test Material Development Committee.  

“Volunteering for the USMLE program requires great depth of knowledge of foundational science, disease pathogenesis, illness scripts, mechanisms of drug actions, diagnostic reasoning, verbal and nonverbal communication, and psychometrics, just to name a few,” Al-Mehdi said. “As a scientist, it gives me deep satisfaction to be part of this great intellectual and scientific endeavor that only happens under the umbrella of the USMLE program successfully, year after year. The USMLE program has become the de-facto standard for quality control of medical education all over the world.”

Accompanied by a graphic of Al-Mehdi, the USMLE posted on its social media accounts: “Behind the scenes of the #USMLE program is a group of dedicated volunteers. The expertise and dedication of these individuals make it possible for the USMLE program to continue to serve medical boards, the #MedEd community, physicians and patients.” 

Al-Mehdi received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Crimea Medical Institute, Ukraine, before practicing as a general surgeon in Bangladesh and Ukraine. He joined the faculty of the Whiddon College of Medicine in 2002. 

Rippey selected for international sports medicine fellowship

Peter Rippey, M.D., second from left, and other members of the group try out the Canadian Olympic team's bobsled on their visit to the Olympic training center in Calgary.

USA Health family medicine physician Peter Rippey, M.D., recently represented the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) as one of three U.S. designees during a prestigious two-week travel fellowship in Canada.   

Rippey, an assistant professor of family medicine at the Whiddon College of Medicine, also has a sports medicine qualification.  

During the international fellowship, Rippey was among two fellows and one mentor from the U.S. who traveled to Canada to meet with other sports medicine specialists and observed how the provision of care can differ, including: reimbursement models, clinical practices, treatment models, and the challenges of providing care for athletes.    

The group attends a Canadian Football League

Edmonton Elks game.

“We shadow sports medicine specialists in clinic and hospital settings, tour and shadow rehab specialists, and have conversations about how provision of care is the same or differs and share ideas,” Rippey said. “We also gave lectures at various sites and acted as ambassadors of sorts to foster international relationships in the sports medicine community.”  

Sports medicine physician members of the AMSSM are eligible to apply for this competitive opportunity if they have completed their fellowship within the previous 12 years. Considered prestigious in sports medicine, the international traveling fellowship offers the chance to learn from global sports medicine experts and further their knowledge through clinical immersion at renowned facilities.  

Rippey described being selected as an honor and personally very exciting because the mentor in his group was Stan Herring, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician considered one of the fathers of sports medicine and an expert in the field of concussions and head injury. Herring is currently a clinical professor in the Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine, Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, and Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle.  

Herring also has served as team physician for the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, and Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners.   

“We had amazing conversations traveling around Canada for two weeks,” Rippey said. “We also met the chief medical officer for the Canadian Olympic team; chief medical officer for the Canadian Football League; and Kathryn Schneider, Ph.D., PT, a researcher who was instrumental in drafting the latest concussion position statement.”  

Rippey spent time in Western Canada in Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton, as well as a weekend in Banff National Park. “I would like to thank my fellow sports physicians and colleagues in the departments of family medicine and orthopaedics for allowing me to serve,” Rippey said, “and covering for me to take two weeks off in the middle of football season and from clinic duties.”  

Founded in 1991, the AMSSM provides a forum to foster professional relationships among sports medicine physicians to advance the discipline of sports medicine through education, research, advocacy, and excellence in patient care.  

The AMSSM Traveling Fellowship program encourages academic interchange, shared research, and exploration of common clinical interests with other sports medicine leaders worldwide. The experience includes the opportunity to view live patient encounters, tour sports medicine facilities, share cases, and spend time with regional experts in sports medicine.