{"id":343991,"date":"2026-07-17T22:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343991\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:51:16","slug":"lecom-at-jacksonville-university-opens-expanding-access-to-medical-education-in-northeast-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343991\/","title":{"rendered":"LECOM at Jacksonville University Opens, Expanding Access to Medical Education in Northeast Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) and Jacksonville University (JU)<br \/>\n                  celebrate the official ribbon cutting of LECOM at Jacksonville University, marking<br \/>\n                  a significant milestone in advancing healthcare education in Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Just over a year after breaking ground, institutional leaders, elected officials,<br \/>\n                  community partners, faculty, students and guests gathered to commemorate the completion<br \/>\n                  of the state-of-the-art medical education facility located within Jacksonville University&#8217;s<br \/>\n                  Medical Mall.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The opening of LECOM at Jacksonville University represents the realization of a shared<br \/>\n                  vision to educate the next generation of physicians while addressing the growing healthcare<br \/>\n                  needs of our region,&#8221; said Silvia Ferretti, D.O., Provost, Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs of LECOM. &#8220;This facility provides an exceptional learning environment where students<br \/>\n                  will receive a world-class osteopathic medical education and develop the skills needed<br \/>\n                  to serve communities throughout Florida and beyond.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LECOMHero1.jpg\" alt=\"LECOM Body Image 1\" width=\"618\" height=\"412\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The new campus will welcome its inaugural class of approximately 75 Doctor of Osteopathic<br \/>\n                  Medicine (D.O.) students, expanding access to affordable, high-quality medical education<br \/>\n                  while helping address the physician shortage across Northeast Florida and the state.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As the nation&#8217;s largest medical college and only osteopathic academic health system, LECOM remains committed to preparing highly skilled<br \/>\n                  physicians who are dedicated to patient-centered care,&#8221; said John Ferretti, D.O., President and CEO of LECOM. &#8220;This partnership with Jacksonville University strengthens<br \/>\n                  our mission while creating opportunities that will benefit patients, students and the entire Northeast Florida<br \/>\n                  community for generations to come.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>LECOM invested approximately $50 million in the Jacksonville campus, a project expected<br \/>\n                  to generate an estimated $91.1 million economic impact for Florida and the City of<br \/>\n                  Jacksonville. By 2030, the campus is projected to support more than 600 jobs while<br \/>\n                  contributing an estimated $60 million annually to the regional economy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The opening of LECOM at Jacksonville University creates an educational pathway that<br \/>\n                  progresses from our undergraduate classrooms into one of the nation&#8217;s leading medical<br \/>\n                  schools, and out into the world-class healthcare organizations throughout Northeast<br \/>\n                  Florida,&#8221; said Jacksonville University Chancellor Tim Cost. &#8220;For 92 years, our mission<br \/>\n                  has been to develop well-rounded, global citizens, and now this partnership will prepare<br \/>\n                  physicians who will care for our families and communities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LECOMBody.jpg\" alt=\"Tim Cost speaking at LECOM ribbon cutting ceremony\" width=\"609\" height=\"406\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Medical Mall serves as an innovative hub for healthcare education, training and<br \/>\n                  clinical services on Jacksonville University&#8217;s Arlington campus. LECOM joins existing<br \/>\n                  health sciences programs and clinical facilities to create a collaborative environment<br \/>\n                  designed to prepare the future healthcare workforce.<\/p>\n<p>As the official clinical education partners for LECOM at Jacksonville University,<br \/>\n                  Baptist Health, UF Health St. Johns and AdventHealth will provide third- and fourth-year<br \/>\n                  clinical training opportunities for medical students. Additional clinical partners<br \/>\n                  include Island Doctors, Wekiva Springs Center and Angel Kids Pediatrics.<\/p>\n<p>The opening of LECOM at Jacksonville University builds upon LECOM&#8217;s longstanding commitment<br \/>\n                  to expanding access to medical education. The institution now includes campuses in<br \/>\n                  Bradenton, Florida; Erie, Pennsylvania; Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Elmira, New York;<br \/>\n                  and Jacksonville, Florida, while maintaining clinical education agreements with more<br \/>\n                  than 100 hospitals and healthcare facilities across 10 states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) and Jacksonville University (JU) celebrate the official ribbon cutting of LECOM&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-343991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343991","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=343991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}