VCOM 2024 Annual Report

The History of VCOM (continued)

The first VCOM-Auburn class graduated in 2019. Many successful relationships have been established with Auburn University, including those with the nursing school and the pharmacy college to serve many of the unmet needs of populations in Auburn, Opelika, and the surrounding area. Research relationships have been established with Auburn University’s School of Kinesiology and College of Engineering. Today, many of the VCOM-Auburn graduates who are finishing residency are returning to hospitals throughout the state where they experienced their clinical education. Inspired by the success of VCOM’s first three campuses, Nick Bruno, PhD, president of the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM), approached VCOM about the possibility of developing a VCOM campus in Louisiana. The unmet needs of Northern Louisiana were evident, and the Rural Hospital Coalition joined ULM in the proposal. By 2020, with all state and national accreditation approvals met, the new VCOM-Louisiana building was constructed on the ULM campus and the first class enrolled. The first class graduated from VCOM Louisiana in 2024. Advancing a Mission of Excellence Today, VCOM has 99%-100% residency match rates across all four campuses. The quality of VCOM graduates has become well known to residency programs in the Southeast United States. As to meeting the mission: More than 70% of VCOM graduates have now entered primary care and 67% of alumni in practice are located in a rural setting or a setting designated federally as a medically underserved community.

2007

VCOM-Virginia Inaugural Class of 2007 graduates.

2010

VCOM’s first primary care alumni complete residency and begin serving in underserved communities, fulfilling the mission.

2011

Construction finishes on VCOM Carolinas, and the inaugural class begins studies in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

2015

Construction completes on VCOM Auburn, and its first class begins. The VCOM-Carolinas campus celebrates its first graduates.

2018

VCOM launches its one-year MABS program with Bluefield University, helping students strengthen medical and healthcare school applications.

Advancing healthcare in underserved communities includes more than educating

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