Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine opened July 20 in Chicago, marking the city’s first new medical school in nearly 100 years.
Five things to know:
1. The inaugural class includes 91 osteopathic medical students, according to a July 20 news release from The Chicago School.
2. IllinoisCOM occupies an eight-story, 247,000-square-foot campus in Chicago’s West Loop, shared with The Community Solution Education System, of which The Chicago School is a member. The college received pre-accreditation from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation in 2025 and expects to graduate its first class in 2030.
3. The launch responds to a workforce shortage: the Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortfall of up to 86,000 physicians nationally by 2036, and the Robert Graham Center forecasts Illinois will need 1,063 additional primary care physicians by 2030, a 12% increase over 2010 levels.
4. At full capacity, IllinoisCOM will enroll 170 students annually, training roughly 680 students at a time, and is projected to generate nearly $1 billion in regional economic impact over the next decade, the release said.
5. For nearby hospitals and health systems, a new medical school is a chance to shape regional workforce planning and help close physician gaps, according to Vineet Arora, MD, dean for medical education at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
“Interestingly, the data is strongest for residency programs: Where you train is highly predictive of where you practice,” Dr. Arora previously told Becker’s. “So for the new medical school to have an impact in a region, it’s important to consider the training sites not only for the new students, but also where they will train for residency.”
Nonteaching hospitals in particular stand to benefit by stepping into that training role, she added.
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