For KU School of Medicine-Wichita faculty members Robert Wittler, M.D., and Tessa Rohrberg, M.D., helping ensure future physicians are ready to provide high-quality patient care extends beyond their classrooms in Wichita.

The two faculty members volunteer on national committees that write and review questions for subject matter assessments and licensing exams taken by all medical students across the country.

“It’s a pretty rigorous process to try to make these questions applicable to the students at their level of training, and also ensure they are evidence-based,” said Wittler, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics who specializes in infectious diseases.

Wittler is a longtime volunteer for the three-step U.S. Medical Licensure Examination program, going back to 2005 when he started writing test questions. Students begin the medical licensure process with an exam after their second year of medical school.

He currently serves on the USMLE Forms Review group and the USMLE Interdisciplinary Review Committee (IRC) for the second step of the exam process, which generally happens after the third year of medical school.

According to the USMLE, the Forms Review group ensures that the different exam forms (multiple-choice questions and case studies) are balanced in content and breadth of knowledge, while the IRC reviews all the questions in the USMLE’s test library database to ensure they are accurate and current.

The USMLE program was developed by the Philadelphia-based National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), which also oversees specific subject matter assessments.

In 2025, Rohrberg, an associate professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine and the clerkship director for family medicine, began serving on one of the NBME test material development committees (TMDCs) that writes and reviews questions used in subject matter assessments. More than 350 educators and experts serve on the various TDMCs, according to the NBME website. Rohrberg, for example, was part of a 10-member subject matter committee.

Like Wittler, Rohrberg described the process as being rigorous. As a TDMC member, Rohrberg writes about 20-25 questions annually that go through a diligent vetting and review process to be included in the assessment.

“It was a little bit overwhelming at first, but it’s really exciting to connect with people from around the country,” said Rohrberg, who estimates she spends about an hour or more developing each question she works on.

While much of the writing and review process is done online, the service commitments for Wittler and Rohrberg include an annual in-person multi-day meeting in Philadelphia to finalize their work.

Wittler and Rohrberg pointed out that being involved at the national level of the assessment and licensing exam program helps them be better educators in their respective classrooms and helps them network and even learn from other educators and physicians.

Wittler said he continues to accept appointments to the USMLE program because he learns from it, believes it’s important for ensuring fair and high‑quality exams and values the professional and service aspects of being part of the process.

“I meet people from across the country, not only pediatrics, but in internal medicine, surgery, psychiatry … and they understand how important of a job it is to make sure our students have that wealth of knowledge. It helps assure the public that licensed physicians are competent from a medical knowledge standpoint,” said Wittler, who joined KUSM-Wichita in 1995 after a 10-year medical career in the U.S. Army.

Volunteers are encouraged to recommend others within medical education who would be an asset to the process. A few years ago, Wittler was asked if he could recommend a family medicine educator, so he suggested Rohrberg should volunteer.

Rohrberg, who joined the KUSM-Wichita faculty in 2019, agreed to volunteer because of a combination of professional interest and desire to grow as an educator.

“I was already the clerkship director for family medicine, and our students take a subject exam at the end of the clerkship, so I was very interested in how those exams are created,” she said.

By understanding the test development process, she can ensure “we are teaching students what we need to teach them,” she said.

While their volunteer service also helps their professional development, allowing them to earn continuing education credit and enhancing their academic promotion opportunities, Wittler and Rohrberg are also boosting KUSM-Wichita’s profile.

Their service on the national committees shows “we have national leaders in education,” said Laura Tatpati, M.D., the dean for KUSM-Wichita.