Minnesota Agencies

Examines, licenses, and registers medical doctors.

In 1883 the "faculty of the medical department of the University of Minnesota" were organized into a "board of examiners" and empowered to issue certificates to practice medicine in the state. In 1887 the Legislature made changes and created the "State Board of Medical Examiners," which provided for a nine-member board serving three-year appointments. That law also repealed the 1883 law, but provided that "all persons licensed under said act shall be taken and considered as licensed under this act."

The Board's name changed to the Board of Medical Practice in 1992 (see Laws of Minnesota 1991, chapter 106).

Membership of the Board of Medical Examiners has changed over time. The 1887 legislation established a nine-member board, appointed to three-year terms. In 1927 membership was reduced to seven members who served seven-year terms, and in 1963 another slight change was made: the board consisted of eight members, appointed to eight-year terms. By 1990, the board consisted of sixteen members appointed by the governor. They could serve not more than eight consecutive terms (see Minnesota Statutes 147.01 (1990)).