State OKs med-school license for new branch of Louisiana-Monroe

BATON ROUGE, La.— Future doctors could be trained in Monroe by 2021.

The Louisiana Board of Regents has approved an initial license for the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine to open a new branch on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

The News-Star reports the three-year operating license for the private, nonprofit university was approved earlier this week.

“While the process is not complete, I am optimistic we have the right partner with VCOM,” ULM President Nick Bruno said. “This is huge for our region, the state and ULM.”

Louisiana currently has three medical schools— LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and Tulane University in New Orleans.

VCOM began in 2001 and has campuses in Virginia, South Carolina and at Auburn University in Alabama. President and Provost Dixie Tooke-Rawlins said during Wednesday’s board meeting that part of its mission is to train physicians for rural areas that tend to be “underserved” or face doctor shortages like the Louisiana Delta region.

Last June, the board’s Committee for Planning, Research & Academic Affairs approved an initial license for a different college to operate a medical school at ULM. However, deputy commissioner Larry Tremblay said the New York Institute of Technology’s application was withdrawn so the school could concentrate on its two existing College of Osteopathic Medicine campuses.

VCOM plans to build a 100,000-square-foot, $31 million building on Louisiana-Monroe’s campus to house the college, breaking ground as early as September.

“This is all being done at no cost to the state,” Tremblay said. “… Plus, it is bringing tremendous economic development into the state” in the form of students, faculty, clinical rotation jobs and more.