Xavier University is planning to open its new College of Osteopathic Medicine by the fall of 2027.
On top of being the first Jesuit osteopathic medical school in the country, the university says the college will be the first of its in kind the Cincinnati area and only the second osteopathic medicine college in Ohio.
The program will focus on educating students in primary and preventive care in a new facility that will be built on Xavier's main campus.
University Provost and Chief Academic Officer Rachel Charstil says the medical school aims to enroll 150 students each year in its four-year program. It will eventually serve around 600 students, many of whom may come from Xavier's own pre-med program.
"We will attract the very best. We already do," Charstil said. "Year after year, 85% of our students who apply to medical school are accepted. More than double the national average."
RELATED: Car mechanic turned doctor who graduated from medical school at 47 finishes residency
Xavier says the osteopathic medicine program plans to address the growing demand for primary care physicians in the region. The first graduates of the medical school are set to graduate in the spring of 2031 and the university predicts it will turn out hundreds of physicians to fill needed positions by 2033.
President Colleen Hanycz says the addition of the College of Osteopathic Medicine will also enhance the university's other programs.
"We are hopeful that this will be the first phase in a multi-phase project that will see Xavier establish a state-of-the-art health sciences quad on our campus that includes a new undergraduate sciences facility to complement this new medical building," Hanycz said.
Xavier University says it will begin the process of finding a founding dean to lead the new college.
