Core Faculty
Tony LaDuca, Ph.D.
Tony LaDuca has recently retired from the National Board of Medical Examiners after completing 25 years of service. His final assignment was as Principal Assessment Scientist with the Measurement Consulting Services unit. In that capacity he worked on projects relating to practice analysis, clinical judgment analysis, and computer-based rapid generation of test items. Beginning in 1981, Dr. LaDuca was responsible for the design of several licensure examinations, including NBME Part III, FLEX 1 and 2, and USMLE Step 3. He pioneered the concept of a “practice model” as a content reference and introduced systematic, objectives-based test item writing to the NBME. For several years he directed the NBME Post-Licensure Assessment Program. Prior to his tenure at the NBME, Dr. LaDuca was on the faculty of Hahnemann Medical College, and he was Associate Professor of Health Professions Education at the University of Illinois (Chicago) Center for Educational Development. He has published articles during five decades on a wide range of topics, including professions theory and professional competence, validation of licensure examinations, physicians’ clinical judgment, systematic item writing and item modeling, and model-based practice analysis. He has served on editorial boards of several educational journals and he has made presentations throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in China and several European countries. Following his retirement from full-time work, Dr. LaDuca remains a consultant to the president of the NBME.
