![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jacqueline-Nicole-Michel-College-Of-Osteopathic-Building-Render-1536x1037.png\" "\\"A")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A rendering of Larkin University\u2019s future Jacqueline Nicole Michel College Of Osteopathic Medicine in South Miami-Dade.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Larkin University<\/p>\n
Larkin University plans to open a new college of osteopathic medicine in South Miami-Dade that it says will bring jobs to the area and improve access to care as the state faces a growing doctor shortage.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Florida currently is facing a significant and worsening physician shortage, particularly in primary care and in underserved communities,\u201d Rudi Ettrich, the president and CEO of Larkin University, told the Miami Herald in a phone interview, explaining that the college\u2019s goal is to encourage medical students to stay and work in the region.<\/p>\n
The state is projected to be short nearly 18,000 physicians by 2035<\/a>, making it difficult to meet the care demands of a rapidly aging population. Everyone who is part of the baby-boom generation will be 65 or older by the year 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cOur population is growing rapidly, and it\u2019s aging, which increases health care demand significantly,\u201d Ettrich said, describing the university\u2019s decision to open a new college as part of its mission \u201cto be part of the solution \u2014 training physicians where they are most needed and where they are most likely to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n Osteopathic doctors specialize in primary or specialty care and are also trained to understand how social and economic factors can impact a person\u2019s health as they age. That includes housing, food insecurity, access to education, job security, and access to health insurance and medical care.<\/p>\n At the college, students will be taught to treat \u201cthe whole person, not just the disease\u201d with a \u201cvery strong emphasis on prevention, primary care and serving communities where access to care is most needed,\u201d Ettrich said.<\/p>\n The proposed 110,000-square-foot college at Southwest 145th Avenue and 276th Street in the Naranja area will be named after Jacqueline Nicole Michel, the late 18-year-old granddaughter of the university\u2019s chair and founder Dr. Jack J. Michel, who is also the founder of Larkin Health System. Jacqueline died in a car crash on Oct. 25 while on her way to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where she was pursuing a degree in pre-veterinary medicine.<\/p>\n \u201cThe establishment of the Jacqueline Nicole Michel College of Osteopathic Medicine reflects our deep commitment to serving South Florida\u2019s healthcare needs while honoring a legacy rooted in compassion, service, and love for humanity,\u201d Jack J. Michel said in a statement. \u201cJacqueline believed deeply in caring for others \u2014 especially those most in need \u2014 and it is our hope that every physician educated here will carry forward those values throughout their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n Ettrich said Larkin, which currently offers health-related graduate programs at its Miami Gardens campus, is still in the accreditation process for its osteopathic medicine college and is hoping to open the 48-acre campus in the fall of 2028.<\/p>\n Once it opens, it would be the second osteopathic medicine-focused school in South Florida and the newest one in Florida, which has several similar osteopathic medicine colleges, including Nova Southeastern University\u2019s Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine in Broward County. Besides Larkin\u2019s upcoming college, at least two other osteopathic medicine colleges<\/a> are expected to open in the state by 2028, according to Florida Trend magazine.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s growing demand for this type of specialized care, particularly in underserved areas, according to Ettrich. Florida has the second-highest number of osteopathic doctors in the country, with over 12,800 osteopathic doctors, just behind California, according to a 2025 report by the American Osteopathic Association.<\/p>\n Ettrich also sees Larkin\u2019s new college as another opportunity for South Florida students, such as Miami Dade College graduates, \u201cto continue with medical education and make a significant impact in our society.\u201d Students who attend Miami Dade College, which has an agreement with the private not-for-profit Larkin, for example, will have a more streamlined process to attend Larkin University\u2019s osteopathic college, similar to its other graduate education programs.<\/p>\n He said Larkin University will also utilize its ongoing partnership with Larkin Health System, its teaching hospital, to match its students into over 40 residency programs, both at Larkin and other health systems, with opportunities to get hired after residency at local hospitals, including at Larkin\u2019s campuses in Hialeah and South Miami. Ettrich believes all of those factors will help encourage local students to stick around after residency.<\/p>\n If a South Florida high school graduate attends a local college and university for pre-med and medical school, and then does residency at a local hospital, there\u2019s a higher chance they\u2019ll live and work in South Florida, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just a healthcare investment. It\u2019s also an economic engine\u201d for developing South Miami-Dade, Ettrich said.<\/p>\n Data from the state and the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that more than half of physicians who complete residency training in Florida decide to stay and practice in the state. Retention rates were as high as 75% among physicians who graduated from a Florida medical school and completed their graduate medical education in the state, according to a 2024 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want our graduates to stay local and do their residency here in South Florida to give them a better connection to the local communities and encourage them to stay here after,\u201d Ettrich said.<\/p>\n Michelle Marchante<\/a><\/p>\n Miami Herald<\/p>\n Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health\u2019s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald\u2019s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.\u00a0 Jacqueline Nicole Michel Courtesy of Larkin University <\/p>\n
\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n Support my work with a digital subscription<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rendering of Larkin University\u2019s future Jacqueline Nicole Michel College Of Osteopathic Medicine in South Miami-Dade. Courtesy of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-240314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}