Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM) announces new status of provisional accreditation from the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (AOA-COCA), the programmatic accreditor for Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine in the United States.

Provisional accreditation allows LUCOM to officially begin recruiting and accepting students and offer education leading to the D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) degree. LUCOM has initiated that process, and the inaugural class will begin in Fall 2014.

In gaining provisional accreditation, LUCOM becomes the 30th College of Osteopathic Medicine in the nation, and the second in Virginia. “Provisional accreditation comes as a testament to the tremendous work of the faculty and staff, our clinical and community affiliates, and our financial supporters,” said LUCOM’s dean, Dr. Ronnie B. Martin, D.O., FACOFP-dist. “Having achieved the highest level of recognition available at this time, we are on track to achieve full accreditation prior to the graduation of our first class of students in 2018.”

Read more at Liberty.edu/news.

Pictured above: The deans of Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine in front of Liberty’s new Center for Medical and Health Sciences, which is on pace to be completed next spring: (from left) Dr. Joseph F. Smoley, associate dean for Academic Affairs; Dr. Eric E. Gish, associate dean for Clinical Affairs; Dr. Ronnie B. Martin, dean; Dr. Timothy O. Leonard, associate dean for Biomedical Affairs.