History

In 1964, osteopathic physicians, working in cooperation with the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, were successful in obtaining a charter to establish an osteopathic medical college in Michigan. The original Michigan College of Osteopathic Medicine was located in Pontiac and admitted its first students in 1969.

That same year, the state legislature enacted Public Act 162, which specified that “A school of osteopathic medicine is established and shall be located as determined by the state board of education at an existing campus of a state university with an existing school or college of medicine."

To comply with this legislation, the college charter was transferred to the Board of Trustees of Michigan State University and the college was relocated to Fee Hall on the East Lansing campus in 1971. At that time, it became known as the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Since 2009, the college has operated under a model of “One College, Three Sites." These sites include East Lansing, as well as locations in southeast Michigan: the Detroit Medical Center in Detroit and the Macomb University Center in Clinton Township, which are home to roughly one-third of each enrolled class.

The College of Osteopathic Medicine has a long-established network of community teaching hospitals throughout Michigan. Known as the Statewide Campus System, or SCS, this network was the original model for the osteopathic postdoctoral training institution, or OPTI. SCS has been accredited by the American Osteopathic Association as an OPTI and currently holds institutional accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, or ACGME. In partnership with the college, SCS residency programs lead the nation in achieving accreditation under ACGME.

Today, more than 300 osteopathic students graduate each year as part of our mandate to produce primary care physicians for the state. The college also receives more research funding from the National Institutes of Health than any other osteopathic college in the nation.